ABYSSINIA: 



ITS PAST, PRESENT, AND PROBABLE FUTURE. 

A LECTURE, 

WITH NOTES AND APPENDICES, 

BY THE 

EE V. HZ MAEGOLIOUTH, LL.D. 

&C, &C, &C. 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 



LONDON: 

W. MACINTOSH, 24, PATERNOSTER RO¥. 

MDCCCLXVI. 



LONDON 
A. T, ROBERTS, PRINTER, 
HACKNEY ROAD. 




/ 



TO THE 




REV. WILLIAM STONE, M.A., 

frawtat of Si galfc 

:o: 

My Dear Mr. Stone, 

You have kindly allowed me to inscribe the following 
little work to you. I am very thankful for the permission, as 
it affords me an opportunity to record, in a permanent form, 
my sense of heartfelt gratitude and reverential affection towards 
you ; which I cannot do by word of mouth. 

It is now verging on two years since I began my 
duties as Curate of this District Parish. Our relation, as 
Incumbent and Curate, has hitherto proved a very happy one. 
Our views — whether on Scripture truths, or on ministerial and 
parochial work — are in perfect concord and harmony. 

You, as Incumbent of this District Parish, are very 
anxious for the eternal welfare of the souls committed to your 
spiritual charge; in which solicitude I, as Curate, most cordially 
and ardently sympathise. 

I am thankful to find that the monthly Missionary 
Lectures, which we have recently organised, and of which the 
substance of the following was the inaugural one, have stirred 
up, in many a member of our people, a fervent interest in the 
work of Christian missions, and therefore in the promotion of 



iv. 

our adorable Redeemer's Kingdom. I venture to look upon this 

humble Lecture, as the grain of mustard seed of a coming 
mighty tree, which shall be hereafter associated, by means of 
this publication, with the name of him who planted it, and of 
him who watered it— to which may God grant an abundant 
increase. 

Personally, I desire to avail myself of this opportunity 

to express my sense of gratitude for the many and great acts of 
kindness which I have experienced at your hands, and at the 
hands of those belonging to you. You and yours have 
uniformly treated me as if I had been one of your family. I 
appreciate the generous treatment most profoundly. 

With your kind permission, therefore, I inscribe and 
dedicate, with unfeigned pleasure, this brochure to you, as a 
small evidence of the grateful sentiments which I feel in my 
heart, but which I lack the power to give utterance to by word 
of mouth. 

Praying most fervently that the same Christian 
brotherly love, which has hitherto cemented and knit us 
together, may continue amongst us, and amongst those com- 
mitted to our spiritual charge and care, 

I remain, 

My Dear Mr. Stone, 
With reverential affection and esteem, 
Your's most truly, 
M, MAHGOLIOUTH, M.A., LL.D. &c. 
Curate of St. PauVs, Dalston, 



Maiich, 1866. 



PREFACE. 



At the close of last year, I submitted to the worthy 
Incumbent of St. Paul's, Dalston, to whom this 
little work is inscribed, the desirability of organising 
a series of monthly Missionary Lectures, to be 
delivered in the new Infant School in his District 
Parish, with a view to promote an active missionary 
spirit amongst the people under our spiritual charge. 
The chief pastor of that District Parish at once 
entered heart and soul into the proposition. 

The substance of this brochure was delivered, as 
the inaugural lecture of that monthly series, on 
Friday, October 6th. The Standard newspaper gave 
a friendly notice of that discourse, and I was asked 
to give it at several other places, with a view to 
augment the fund, which was then being raised, to 
enable Dr. Beke to proceed to Abyssinia, and there to 
exert his friendly mediation with its autocrat for the 
liberation of the British captives, H. B. Majesty's 
Consul, and the Missionaries of the "London Society 
for promoting Christianity amongst the Jews." 
Having the welfare of the afflicted prisoners much 
at heart, I complied with the request, in two 
instances, and delivered the lecture, with some 
variations, according to circumstances, at Lewes 
and Reading. 



vi. 

It is gratifying to me to know that I have been 
the means of doing something towards that work 
and labour of christian love. Since I delivered the 
lecture, I received numerous urgent requests to 
publish it. In deference to the character and position 
of the requisitionists, I comply with the strong 
wishes. The publication may be instrumental in 
promoting greater sympathy, in the mind of the 
public, for the poor captives, than has yet been 
evinced. I venture to affirm that the lecture, with 
the notes and appendices, will be found to furnish 
the most comprehensive and consecutive account of 
the painful story of the origin of the imprisonment, 
and the torture, and the "durance vile" of the 
captives. Neither the " Foreign Office," nor the 
Jews' Society have yet published any reliable 
narrative of the melancholy chapter, in their 
respective governments. 

A great deal is now being said about the refusal 
of the Committee of the " London Society for pro- 
moting Christianity amongst the Jews," to contribute 
towards Dr. Beke's mission to Abyssinia, the object 
of which is to try and liberate the imprisioned 
Missionaries of that venerable Association. Surely 
the fault-finders can not be aware of the immense 
sums which that Committee has, of late years, 
lavished upon a revision of the Hebrew translation 
of the New Testament, which, like Penelope's web, 
is still unfinished. Were the circumstance generally 
known, and understood by the public- at large, even 
the censurers might begin to pity the Committee in 



vii. 



their modus operandi. What makes the circumstance 
more pitiable is the certainty that, the enormous out- 
lay will prove a dead loss, as regards " promoting 
Christianity amongst the Jews," by means of that 
revision. The specimen of the new version, the 
Four Gospels, which has been published, has been 
condemned— with the exception of the tonic accents 
—by every respectable and competent Hebrew 
scholar, at home and abroad. If report speaks true, 
the reviser himself begins to lose confidence in his 
work, inasmuch as the electro -stereo plates prepared 
for printing the revised translation, are under the 
constant process of alteration. 

As regards my own view of the subject— for 
which I am constantly asked by numerous corres- 
pondents in England and on the Continent — it may be 
gathered from the following extracts, from two of the 
many letters which I had occasion to write about it. 
The first is from a letter to the celebrated Dr. 
Delitzsch, professor of Theology, in the University 
of Erlangen. That eminent scholar was so disap- 
pointed at the revision in question, that he has under- 
taken a new translation of his own, on which he is 
now engaged. It is in allusion to that undertaking 
that the following has reference: — 

"I should very much like to see a specimen of 
the work, I feel a very great interest in such an 
undertaking. To be candid, however, I think the 
responsibility too great for a couple of individuals — 
be they ever such eminent scholars— to bring out 
such a work as an authorized Hebrew version of 



viii. 

the New Testament. I am of opinion that the LXX. 
should supply us with a wholesome hint, touching 
such an enterprise. I should venture to suggest 
that the work be undertaken by a conference of bona 
fide Hebrew scholars, who understand the sacred 
tongue, not only to the extent of its etymology, 
but to the extent of the whole range of Hebrew 
literature, ancient as well as modern." 

The second extract is from a letter, which I had 
occasion to address to the Rev. Alex. Levie, of St. 
John's, Lewes,* on his submitting to me a copy of a 
letter which he had already despatched to the said 
Committee on the subject of the revision : — " I must, 
in the first place, tell you frankly, that I have, 
several times, spoken in very high terms of the 

* That gentleman has recently published a Pamphlet on the sub- 
ject of the revision, entitled "An Important Correspondence between 
the Rev. Alex. Levie, Curate in sole charge of St. John's, Lewes, 
Sussex, and the Committee of the London Society for Promoting 
Christianity amongst the Jews. With Notes and Appendix." 
There may be some difference of opinion amongst the interested, 
and the impartial in this question, as to the tone and style of un- 
palatable candour, and frankness, which characterises the brochure ; 
but there can be no difference of opinion as to the general correctness 
of the charges made by Mr. Leyie. I take this opportunity to 
repudiate, in the most unequivocal terms, the statement, made by 
certain parties who smart under the Critic's castigation, that Mr. Levie 
wrote his Pamphlet under my direction. The statement is made 
in defiance of truth, and in violation of the 9th Commandment. 
The principal party concerned ought to know that I have in my hand 
evidence, most fatal to his reputation as a Hebrew scholar, which 
proves him to be the last man to have had anything to do with a 
work of the kind ! Can he not perceive that if I had anything 
to do with the Pamphlet that that evidence would have formed part 
of it ! I cannot help regretting that Mr. Levie should have deemed 
my letter to him, of "August 3, 1865,"— from which an extract is 
given above — too lengthy for publication in his brochure, since he 
was about it. The strictures contained in that letter would convince 
the most uncharitable detractors, of my conscientiousness and im- 
partiality in the matter. 



ix. 



new Hebrew version of the Gospel according to 
St. Matthew. The intoning accents, so well described 
in Hebrew ffQJ/CDI mrCO, gave to my ear such a 
melodious charm, as to make me overlook the text. 
I revelled in the very lovely sound which they 
produced, and neglected to study the sense which the 
text produced. The tonic accents had the same 
effect upon my ear as some of Mendelssohn's Lieder 
ohne Worte. They produced the same effect upon 
many a learned Jew, without the slightest reference, 
I can now see, to the merits of the text of the new 
version. I am not ashamed to own, that your 
strictures have dissipated the illusive spell, which 
the accents have cast over my mind, touching the 
soundness of the new version. I admit that the last 
effort, in revising the Hebrew version of the New 
Testament, is not likely to prove so great a success, 
as I had ventured to hope." 

I thought it proper, to enter into the above par- 
ticulars, as they seem to my mind, to afford a 
probable solution to the vexed question : — " How came 
the Committee of the 4 London Society for Promoting 
Christianity amongst the Jews,' to withhold a helping 
hand from Dr. Beke's mission, which was undertaken 
for the express purpose of rescuing their Mission- 
aries from imprisonment and captivity?" 

I venture respectfully to invite the particular at- 
tention of Biblical Critics and Scholars, to the obser- 
vations—in the introductory part of the lecture, and 
Appendix A i — with regard to the right meaning of 



X. 



Isaiah xviii, 1. The time has fully come, that they, 
who take upon themselves the solemn and responsible 
office of public interpreters of the word of God, 
strive to attain to a 'perfect knowledge of the original 
of the Old Testament, so that they may be in a 
position to prove themselves workmen that need 
not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of Truth. 
The diligent student of the original of that word of 
Truth, with scientific criticism, obtains, day by day, 
fresh evidence that science, rightly so named, instead 
of contradicting or opposing revelation, only ministers 
proof to its divine origin and infallibility. On the 
other hand, a thorough knowledge of the original 
Scriptures dissipates the superstitious spell that 
theories are necessarily sound, because they were 
long maintained by certain commentators and ex- 
positors; and opinions indisputably well founded, 
because they have been espoused by certain mas- 
ters, pastors, and teachers. 



ABYSSINIA, 



ABYSSINIA: 

ITS PAST, PRESENT, AND PROBABLE FUTURE. 



A LECTURE. 



Three conditions are generally required to make 
a Lecture interesting: — A telling subject; an intel- 
ligent audience ; and an efficient lecturer. Two of 
these conditions, are indispensable, namely, a telling 
subject, and an intelligent audience. If such be the 
case, as undoubtedly it is with the subject and 
audience before me, the latter will soon apprehend 
the intrinsic value of the former — no matter whether 
the lecturer be an efficient one or not. I own, that, 
under present circumstances, a more efficient lecturer 
than the one before you, might have been found to 
treat this, at present, most thrilling subject. 

As it is, I must bespeak your indulgence for 
treating the subject in* my own way. I accord to 
political magnates the right of treating ecclesiastical 



14 



matters, from their point of view ; I venture to hope 
therefore, that I, a humble Ecclesiastic, may be borne 
with, if I treat certain political matters from my 
point of view. 

Abyssinia. — Though as a country, of considerable 
antiquity in the world's annals, — is, as a term of 
comparatively recent coinage, in the history of 
nomenclature. It has been known to the sacred 
writers as Cush, or Ethiopia ; Sheba, or Saba. The 
natives call their land Abesh, or aspirated Habesh, 
which has been spun out by Western Philo- 
logists, into Abyssinia. This Abesh, or Habesh, I 
consider the Ethiopic reading of the Hebrew word 
Sheba — perhaps, more properly, the Hebrew 
reading of the Ethiopic word Abesh.— When I tell 
you, that the Hebrew language reads from right to 
left, and the Ethiopic the reverse way, you will at 
once perceive what I mean. Write down the syllables 
A- or Ha-Besh, from left to right, as you do 
when you write English, then read them from right 
to left, as the Hebrews do, and you have Abesh, or 
Habesh, turned into Sheba.* 

That country was evidently known in Palestine 
in the days of Solomon, by the circumstance of the 

# The Author is not unacquainted with the fanciful derivation which 
some eccentric Critics have given for the name. Habesh, say they, was a 
name first given to the country by the Arabs and Portuguese; the word, 
Ha-bosh, signifying in the language of the former mixture, or confusion. 
A tolerable knowledge of the annals and literature of Abyssinia, would 
have saved those Critics from their blunder. Curious enough, modern 
Abyssinians cling to the name which the Greeks, during their ascendancy 
at Alexandria have given to it, viz. : Ethiopia, from AlGlo^, a man 
burnt by the su>n i. e. dark of colour. 



15 



visit which the immortalised Queen of Sheba paid to 
Jerusalem, during the reign of the sage King of 
Israel. This item of my lecture will be treated 
presently somewhat at length. 

Abyssinia was also known, to the Hebrews, as 
"the land beyond the rivers of Ethiopia." Thus 
Isaiah apostrophised it : — 

"Ho! Land of the winged Tsaltsal, 
Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopea!" 

Our translators, who have too frequently, and too 
implicitly, followed ancient uncritical paraphrasts, 
have adopted a certain ancient rendering of the 
original words, of the first clause of Isaiah xviii. 1., 
namely, "the land shadowing with wings." Many 
unripe Biblical expositors and Critics, have laboured 
to prove that "shadowing with wings" meant 
" covered with sails ;" having taken that for granted, 
the next step, by a characteristic short cut, was 
the assumption that " the land shadowing with 
wings," meant "sea-girt and wooden-walled England." 
The schools of modern prophets never stop to 
consider, that supposing the original words are 
correctly rendered "the land shadowing with 
wings," and supposing, that the sacred bard used 
the poetic phrase, to describe a great maritime 
nation, how can England be extorted from the 
Prophet's topography, " beyond the rivers of 
Ethiopia?" The fact is, the first clause of Isaiah 
xviii, 1, should have been rendered, as I read it to 
you, 

" Ho ! Land of the winged Tsaltsal," 



16 



The Tsaltsal, or Tsaltsalya, the Ethiopian term, 
is an insect, which is indigenous to some parts of 
Abyssinia, and, at a certain time of the year, is the 
dread and fear of man and beast. In a former chap- 
ter (vii. 18, 19,) the same Prophet, threatened, in 
the name of the Almighty, to use that insect as a 
scourge, " And it shall come to pass, in that day, 
that the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the 
uttermost parts of the rivers of Egypt . . and 
they shall come, and shall rest all of them, in the 
desolate valleys, &c, &c," The inspired bard had 
evidently, as was his wont, apostrophised Abyssinia, 
by its peculiar feature. 

" Ho ! Land of the winged Tsaltsal, 
Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia." 
In other words, 

"Ho! Land of that fly 
Which is in the uttermost parts of the river of 
Egypt."* 

No doubt the insect Tsetse, Dr. Livingstone speaks 
of, belongs to the same species. 

I maintain then, that Abyssinia is the burden of 
the eighteenth chapter of Isaiah. If we glance at its 
import, as well as at that of other predictions, we see 
plainly, that Abyssinia has yet to play a very impor- 
tant part, in the drama of the world's history. 

But apart from future anticipations, as revealed in 
this sacred volume, Abyssinia is not an uninteresting 
theme for a lecture, before an intelligent audience. 
Many are the important objects, and subjects, with 

* See Appendix A. 



17 



which the history of that land stands associated. 
The ancient literature, of that part of the world, 
possesses peculiar features of attraction. To the 
scientific philologist, the analysis of the various 
languages, and different dialects, dead or living, 
employed in that region, is specially interesting. 
But I must tear myself, at present, from these 
alluring considerations. 

The geographical boundaries of Abyssinia are 
hinted at, in Holy Writ. Denouncing judgment 
against Egypt, the Prophet says : " Behold, therefore, 
I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will 
make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, 
from the Tower of Syene, even unto the border of 
Ethiopia."* Touching the present boundries of that 
distant country, I may safely endorse, in general out- 
line, those of the most recent and most elaborate 
Geographical Dictionary, f though they were sketched 
regardless of the political changes which the present 
Emperor effected, since he appeared on the Ethiopian 
stage: — "Its limits have been variously denned by 
different authorities, hardly any two agreeing as to 
what these limits precisely are; but they may be 
generally stated, as extending between lat. 7° 25' and 
16° 40' N.; and Ion. 35° and 43° 20' E., having 
Nubia N. & W., the Bed Sea, and Strait of Bab-el- 
Mandeb E., and to the S. the unknown countries 

* Ezek. xxix. 10. 

t Blackie and Sons' " Imperial Gazateer ; A General Dictionary of 
Geography, Physical, Political, Statistical, and Descriptive." &c. 



B 



18 



stretching to the Indian Ocean. The entire length 
of the kingdom from N- to S. is about 670 miles, its 
breadth from E. to W., at the broadest part, about 
540. The principal divisions of Abyssinia, are called 
respectively, Dankali, Adel, Tigre, Amhara, and 
Shoa." 

The natural beauties of that part of the world are, 
in some respects, unrivalled. Its region of Alpine 
mountains holds in its bosom the long sought for 
sources of the Nile. Humboldt has compared 
Abyssinia, by reason of its altitude to the lofty 
plains of Quito. The great German Geographer, 
Carl Bitter, has demonstrated in his erudite work 
" Erdkunde," that the highlands of that country, 
consist of three terraces, or distinct table lands, rising 
one above another, and of which the several grades 
of ascent present themselves in succession, to the 
traveller, as he advances from the shore of the Red 
Sea. The first of these is the plain of Baharnegash ; 
the second level is the plain and province of Tigre, 
which formerly contained the 'kingdom of Axurn; 
the third level is High Abyssinia, or the kingdom of 
Amhara. 

The Archaeologist may find much in that country 
to gratify his conjecturing faculty. Its natural 
history — whether as regards the animal, or the vege- 
table kingdom— affords much matter for investiga- 
tion and research to the votaries of that scientific 
department. But my business, in this lecture, is with 
the humanity of Abyssinia. 



19 



The races which constitute the inhabitants of 
Abyssinia may be classified as a sort of heptarchy. 
(1) The Tigrani. (2) The Amharas. (3) The 
Agows. (4) The'Gaffats. (5) The Gongas and 
Enareans. (6) The Gallas. (7) The Falashas. 
I put in my list the Tigrani first, and the Falashas 
last, because these races have much to do with the 
subject matter of my lecture. 

The government of the country was for a long 
long time monarchical; and the seven races, just 
named, however they may have differed in other 
respects, all agreed to swear allegiance to a Negush, 
or Negoos, King, or Emperor, who could trace his 
pedigree, in unbroken lineal succession, to the wise 
King of Israel, even Solomon. 

And now, I must ask you to listen to a legend, 
which no other nation, tongue, or kindred lays claim 
to; hence it must have for its foundation prima facie, 
bona fide, facts, however grotesque the fictitious 
superstructure may appear. Let me recall to your 
mind the last race in the heptarchy -list which I have 
drawn up, I mean the Falashas. The term Falasha 
is formed from the Ethiopic word Falas, which means 
exile. They, the Falashas, maintain, and their neigh- 
bours of yore and of to-day, concur in the strenuous 
affirmation, that their ancestors first came into 
Ethiopia, in the reign of Magueda, the renowned 
Queen of Sheba. Abyssinian legendary — I use the 
word Abyssinian and Ethiopian as convertible terms, 
for convenience sake ; I know that, strictly speaking, 

b 2 



20 



Abyssinia is only part of Ethiopia— is very rich in 
descriptions of that Princess; her personal charms, 
her wit, her wisdom, her piety is the theme of many 
a song and many a tale.* 

It was Queen Magueda who came from the south, 
Saba, to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Her visit to 
the court of that sage monarch eventuated in a 
matrimonial alliance — Solomon was always forming 
matrimonial alliances, judging from the number of 
his wives. After a considerable residence at Jeru- 
salem, at the Court of Zion, Queen Magueda returned 
to her own dominions. Not however, without a sub- 
stantial token and pledge of affection, in the shape 
of a fine baby -prince, Menilek, by name. She also 
took with her, on her return to her native country, 
a large number of Hebrew retainers, representatives 
of all the tribes of the children of Jacob. Also a 
priest, Azarias by name, son of the high-priest 
Za^dok ; also a copy of the law of Moses. Hence the 
religions which prevailed in Abyssinia, prior to the 
introduction of Christianity, were Mosaism and a 
species of judaized Paganism. The former was tena- 
ciously held by the imported Israelites ; the latter by 
the natives, by way of compromise with their own 
mythology. I shall presently return to the Hebrew 
immigrants, ^or Falashas, as their descendants are 
called. 

*Even the fabled parrot which is said to have brought to Solomon the in- 
formation about Sheba and its Queen, attained a species of immortality. 
The legend — which is recorded in the Jewish work called " Targum 
Shenee," figured on several mediasval works of art, and seems to have 
been very popular, both in England and abroad, in olden times. 



21 



The natives were charmed with the new Prince, 
and were immensely pleased with his paternal 
parentage; hence it was made an unalterable law 
of Ethiopia, that the ruler of Abyssinia should 
always be a lineal descendant from Menilek and 
Solomon. Their line of Kings, from time imme- 
morial, had for their arms a lion passant proper 
upon a field of gules, with the legend Mo anbasa am 
Nizilet Solomo Negade Jude : — Anglice, " The lion 
of the race of Solomon, and tribe of Judah hath 
conquered." 

The Ethiopians embraced Christianity in an early 
century after its promulgation. As early as the 
fourth century the Abyssinians had a translation of 
the Holy Scriptures, in the Ethiopic language; and 
the Faith appears to have flourished amongst them 
for several hundred years. It seemed to be proof 
against the deluge of Mohammedanism, by which 
other African Churches were submerged and ex- 
tinguished. The Abyssinian Christian, of this olden 
time, looked forward, with glowing faith, to the period 
when Christianity should be the religion of the globe. 
Amongst the many prophetic legends of that land, 
there is one to the effect, that when a King of the 
name of Theodoros shall sit upon the throne of 
Abyssinia, he shall subjugate all nations to his sway, 
and then Christianity shall be the creed of the 
world.* 

^Taking Theodoros according- to the interpretation thereof, namely, 
God's Gift, the prophetic legend is simply a truism. The King of Kings, 
the crowned Redeemer is and will be the gift of God; and when He shall 
come to take the Kingdom, Christianity will be the creed of the world. 



22 



For upwards of three centuries, however — that is, 
ever since the Ottoman power was permitted to 
spread its blighting and withering influence over the 
fairest portions of Asia and Africa — Abyssinia has 
been subjected to all the calamities and disasters 
which are the bane of States and Churches. The 
Turks encroached, step by step, on its sea-board, and 
ultimately took entire possession of it; thus the 
usurpers have not only effectually destroyed the 
commerce of Abyssinia, but have also utterly de- 
barred that land, between two and three centuries, 
from intercourse and contact with the civilized world. 
Less time than that has sunk some of the most 
civilized states (the greatness of whose monarchies 
is now the theme of a distinguished Professor at 
Oxford) into utter barbarism. 

The heathen Gallas then encroached upon the 
fertile provinces, or Southern Abyssinia, spreading 
disaster, devastation, and desolation wherever they 
moved. Intestine wars and anarchy became the 
plague of Ethiopia; and the leprosy of debasement 
and degradation, the characteristic of the Ethiopians. 
The frightful hurricane swept down, from their 
mountain fastness, the hitherto isolated Falashas, 
into the vortex of the great abyss of misery and 
wretchedness. 

Let me now recur to the early Hebrew settlers in 
Abyssinia. On the promulgation of the Gospel in 
Ethiopia, A.D. 341, under the episcopacy of Frume- 
tius, in a belligerent tone of voice, and with actions 



23 



suiting to the words, the Falashas retired to the 
mountainous fastness of Semien, and Bellesa, where 
they maintained an existence of chequered indepen- 
dence, under a line of Kings and Queens, bearing 
the generic names of Gideon and Judith. Their 
independence fell, as has been already intimated, in 
the beginning of the seventeenth century, when they 
were forced to make themselves homes in the midst 
of their enemies, the unclean Amharas, as they call 
their Abyssinian neighbours. 

The Falashas, pride themselves on the purity of 
their Abrahamic blood, and would scorn to be com- 
pared with the noblest of the Saxon and Norman 
races, whose bluest blood they would probably con- 
sider murky and muddy. They are scrupulously 
moral; diligently industrious, strictly religious, 
but, it must be added, distressingly superstitious. 
Towards those out of the pale of their communion, 
they are isolated, unsocial, and repellantin the extreme. 
Their Mesquids, or Synagogues, are as inaccessible 
to a non-Israelite, as the Mosque at Mecca is to non- 
Mohammedens. They are poor, very poor, in the 
possession of the Word of God. Portions of the 
Pentateuch, and of the Psalms, are all the Scriptures 
that the Falashas have of Moses and the Prophets. 
The Book of Leviticus is the staple work from which 
they are instructed. Their priests are ascetics and 
fanatics. They are, however, strong in the belief of 
the rebuilding of Jerusalem, in the ultimate splen- 
dour of the Holy City, and the eventual glory of the 
people of Israel. The following are some sentences 



24 



from the Falaslia liturgy: — "Thou, O Lord, who 
nearest in Heaven, the worship of thy saints, hear us 
also when we cry unto Thee, in Thy holy Temple. 
Lord, be not angry with us, nor suffer us to be 
destroyed. Eemeniber the covenant of our Fathers, 
whom Thou hadst redeemed from the bondage of 
Egypt. Forgive us our sins, and blot out our trans- 
gressions, which have separated us from Thee. 

" God of our Fathers, turn unto us, and cause 
us to' live. 

" God of Abraham, turn unto us, and cause us 
to live. 

"God of Isaac, turn unto us, and cause us 
to live. 

"God of Jacob, turn unto us, and cause us 
to live. 

"God of Angels, turn unto us, and cause us 
to live. 

" Lord, lead us in the right way, and give peace 
unto Zion, and salvation unto Jerusalem." 

The Falashas interpret the two great prophecies 
in the Pentateuch, as predicting the Great Deliverer. 
The prophecies I allude to, are those uttered by the 
Patriarch Jacob, and by Israel's Deliverer from 
Egypt, within a few days of their respective deaths. 
The former spake thus to his assembled sons: — 
" The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a 
law-giver from between his feet, until Shiloh come ; 
and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be."* 



* Gen. xlix. 10. 



25 



The latter thus addressed the now great nation, " On 
this side Jordan, in the land of Moab :" — " The Lord 
thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the 
midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto 
Him ye shall hearken . . And the Lord said unto 
me, They have well spoken that which they have 
spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet from among 
their brethren, like unto thee, and will put My words 
in His mouth, and He shall speak unto them all that 
I shall command Him. And it shall come to pass, 
that whosoever will not hearken unto My words 
which He shall speak in My name, I will require it 
of him."* 

For the last seventy years — three score and ten 
years, so prolific in political, civil, and religious 
changes — Abyssinia has been brought into pro- 
minent notice, and that too by the government of 
Great Britain. It was when France, under the first 
Napoleon — a man whose eventful history, in some 
respects resembles somewhat that of the present 
Emperor of Abyssinia, the which I shall presently 
bring before you — I say that when France, at the 
close of the last century, attempted to obtain ascen- 
dancy in Egypt, that the Government of this Country 
began to make overtures of friendship and alliance 
to the ruling powers of Abyssinia. I will not weary 
you with the dry diplomatic manoeuvres of Lord 
Valentia, Major Sir William Harris, Messrs. Salt, 
Pearce, Coffin, Bell, and Plowden. Suffice it to say, 

* Deut. xviii., 15, 17. 18, 19. 



26 



at present, that until the accession of the present 
ruler of Abyssinia, our government espoused the 
cause of that country — no matter who the dominant 
party happened to be— against Turkey and Egypt, 
the implacable enemies of Ethiopia; and in various 
other ways did Great Britain show itself in the 
guise of a friendly ally of Abyssina and the Abys- 
sinians. However, since the occupation of the 
Ethiopian throne by the present Emperor, a 
gradual decline of England's feelings towards that 
country became apparent. That change — for which 
no doubt the Government have cogent reasons of 
their own — and French Jesuitical scheming and 
intrigue, have brought about the incarceration and 
torture of English Missionaries, the English Consul 
of Massowah, and other English subjects, by the 
slighted Abyssinian autocrat. 

It is necessary to my plan of treating my subject 
that I make a digression here on the vicissitudes of 
British Christian Missions in Abyssinia. In the year 
1829, the Church Missionary Society, established a 
Mission in Ethiopia; it prospered most favourably 
for a time ; Dr. Samuel Gobat, the present Bishop of 
Jerusalem, was one of the first staff of Missionaries 
in Abyssinia. The Church of Rome, the evil genius of 
Christianity, who did not hitherto think of Ethiopia, 
began now to exert her baneful influence there. 
By subtle ecclesiastical and political intrigues Romish 
emissaries succeeded in marring the work of the 
English Missionaries, and in bringing about the ex- 



27 



pulsion of the preachers of the Gospel from thence 
in 1838. The Roman Catholics lost no time in 
establishing a Mission in Ethiopia, the head of which 
was Padre de Jacobis, a Neapolitan [of noble birth, 
and a Prince of crafty intriguers. Romanism began 
to spread amongst the poor Abyssinians, and Padre 
de Jacobis was designated Aboona Yakob, i.e. Primate 
Yakob, of all the Roman Catholics in Ethiopia. 

The English Missionaries then proceeded to Shoa, 
where they re-commenced their Christian work, under 
very auspicious circumstances ; but soon after a M. 
Rochet, a French Jesuit, made his appearance at 
the court of Shoa, who craftily obtained the ear of 
the King; and the English Missionaries were once 
more persecuted, and had to flee to another place. 
Even Dr. Krapf's property was seized, and never 
recovered. Missionary enterprises were under- 
taken since the accession of the present monarch to 
the throne of Ethiopia, which I shall bring under 
your notice, after I have furnished a brief sketch of 
the remarkable origin, life, and career of that ex- 
traordinary man. 

He was born about 1820, in the province Kwara, 
a small province on the western borders of Amhara ; 
his father, Haelu Weleda Georgis, though poor, 
claimed lineal descent from Menilek, the supposed 
son of Solomon and Magueda, the notable Queen of 
Sheba; his mother was of very low origin. The 
former died when the boy, whose name was Kassai, 
was but of tender age. The widow, in order to drag 
on an existence, took to the humble trade of kosso — 



28 



the anthelmintic, Anglice, tape-worm medicine— 
vendor. The orphan boy was sent to a convent, in 
the hope that he might he trained up for the Abys- 
sinian priesthood. A defeated rebel, Dedjatch Mar on, 
marked that convent as the object of his revenge; he 
surprised it in the night, set it on fire, and murdered 
every inmate, except little Kassai. The boy effected 
his escape, in the dead of the night, to his powerful 
uncle, Chieftain Comfou, Governor of Kwara. 

As Comfou was embroiled in incessant hostilities 
with neighbouring Chiefs, Kassai tried his hand with 
sword and spear. The boy was evidently father to 
the man ; he proved so expert a warrior, as to become 
his uncle's darling, the idol of his uncle's forces, and 
the terror of his uncle's enemies. Kassai became, at 
an early age, distinguished for prowess, martial skill, 
and stratagetic manoeuvring; he was at the same 
time chivalrous and generous. Unhappily, his uncle 
died an untimely death. The sons of Comfou fell to 
fighting for the patrimony. The domestic feud 
proved the utter desolation of the territory fought for. 

A neighbouring chieftan, Goshu Beru, Governor 
of Damot and Godjam, valiant, crafty, and plotting, 
who watched with savage glee the ruin which the 
fratricidal struggle effected, when he saw the result 
— both brothers were killed — pounced upon Kawar. 
Kassai had again to escape for his life, and found 
shelter, for some time, at the hut of a peasant, in a 
place called Sarago, in the province of Alava.* 

* The native admirers of the present Emperor of Ethiopia, delight in 
narrating the following anecdote in connection with the above incident. 
It is to the effect, that when the hunted boy Kassai became a conquering 



29 



When the search for him was abandoned, he left his 
hiding place, and took to a freebooting pursuit ; he 
organized a gang of seventy freebooters, and acted as 
Captain of the band of robbers. His strict discipline, 
however, occasioned a conspiracy against his life. 
The plot was detected and betrayed. Kassai lost no 
time in ascertaining how many were on his side ; they 
were but few, but with those few he boldly attacked 
the confederates, utterly discomfited and routed 
them. He then made common cause with another 
Captain of a robber-band, and carried on the work 
of depredation for a few months longer. But 
that was evidently not the calling he delighted 
in; he soon became disgusted with that his mode 
of life, he therefore abandoned it, and took to 
agriculture. Farming, however, was as little to 
his taste as the priesthood, he therefore readily 
listened to the flattering overtures of subserviency, 
on the part of the numerous disaffected, and dis- 
contented chiefs who rallied round him. The in- 
cense of adulation became eventually instrumental 
in inspiring Kassai with a desire to redress grievances, 
arrest oppression, and restrain violence. As nephew 
of the late chief Comfou, Governor of Kwara, he, as 
next of kin, raised his uncle's standard, and soon 
rescued his claimed inheritance from the grasp of the 

hero, and the head of a large army, he had occasion to lead his victorious 
forces to that very place. The soldiery were quartered by tens upon the 
inhabitants thereof. One peasant absolutely refused to admit the men 
allotted to his keeping in board, lodging, &c. The audacious fellow was 
upon this forcibly brought before Dedjatch Kassai. The chief at once 
recognized his friend in need, and displayed the gratitude which a thank- 
ful heart always feels towards a benefactor. The latter was sent away 
rejoicing, crowned with honour, and endowed with presents in money, 
men-servants and maid-servants, as well as cattle. 



30 



usurper Beru, and assumed the governorship of 
Kwara. 

Kassai's popularity, power, and influence, became 
an ominous fact to the Princes, and Governors of the 
different provinces of Abyssinia. There was there* 
fore, a determination on the part of the several rulers 
of the fragmentary land, to destroy the upstart and 
adventurer. Kassai's most relentless enemy was 
the Waisero Menin, mother of Ras Ali, the titular 
Queen of all the provinces west of the Taccazy.* To 
crush "the kosso vendor's son," as she contemptu- 
ously called the popular chief of Kwara, became the 
purpose of her existence. f But it was not to be. 
The army which was sent against him, met with 
discomfiture and disaster. The Jezebeline crafty 
intrigues, and alluring blandishments, failed to entrap 
the wary Kassai. — The Waisero, or Queen mother, 
like the notorious Jezebel, was a daughter of a 
Pagan Chief tan, one of the heathen Gallas. Her 
grand-child, daughter of Ras-Ali, whom the Abys- 
sinian Jezebel intended as a Delilah for the Abyssinian 

* Eas Ali himself never ruled or governed, as is erroneously stated in 
Earl Russell's famous despatch. 

f An amusing anecdote is related in connection with the war cry 
" Down with the kosso vendor's son!" — One of the chiefs of the Waisero 
Menin, promised his mistress, to bring her back from the battle, upon 
which he was just entering, with Kassai, the kosso-seller's son, dead or 
alive. Fortune, as usual, smiled on the ai-ms of the Waisero-Menin's ad- 
versary,^ which battle that confident chief of hers, was not only defeated, 
but also taken prisoner, by the low-born Kassai. The Victor heard of the 
captured chief's obnoxious boast ; the prisoner was therefore invited to a 
repast with the conqueror, when he, i.e. Kassai, ordered a flask of kosso 
to be placed before his captive guest, and thus addressed him, " I 
am, as you have truly said, only the son of a poor kosso-seller ; but as 
my mother has not sold any of that medicine to-day, I take it for granted, 
that you at least, will patronise her wares under the circumstances." 
The wretched guest had to swallow the nauseous liquid to the very dregs. 
A French writer, with proverbial " French leave," has recently published 
the circumstance as having taken place, in the case of Mr. Stern. 



Samson, and therefore gave her to him in marriage, 
proved a most affectionate and loving wife ; her brave 
and loyal husband's guardian angel. She foiled 
every treacherous attempt, on the part of her 
excessively depraved grand-mother, on her beloved 
husband's life. A circumstance which evidences 
that there was something praiseworthy in Kassai. 

Thwarted in the matrimonial manoeuvre, the 
Waisero Menin then hit upon another scheme. She 
sent him to repel an overwhelming invasion of 
Arabs and Egyptians, in which engagement she 
made sure of his death ; but he returned safe, if not 
sound. She then unmasked herself, and appeared 
openly in her real character, as the most deadly foe 
of her grand- daughter's husband. Several battles 
followed, in every one of which Kassai was the 
victor, and the gainer of fresh territory. Step by 
step, Kassai trampled under foot, the chief of every 
tribe, the governor of every province, in that exten- 
sive domain, known as Abyssinia. He was known, 
during his progress towards the throne of Ethiopia, 
frequently to throw himself on his face, in the midst 
of his comrades, in the warfare, and exclaim: — "I 
praise Thee, God, that Thou has manifested Thy 
goodness to a poor sinner like me! Whom Thou 
humblest is humbled, whom Thou exaltest is exalted. 
Thine is the power, and glory, for ever and ever." 

The only province and ruler which Kassai, as 
Kassai, did not subjugate, was the province of Tigre, 
and its ruler Oubie. To prevent any more effusion 
of blood, it was proposed that the respective claims 



32 



of Kassai and Oubie, to the imperial dignity of 
Abyssinia, be submitted to the arbitration of a 
council, composed of the great nobles, and chieftains 
of the empire. Each aspirant to the imperial throne 
took an oath to abide by the decision of the arbitra- 
tors. The conclave of referees tried to keep their 
counsel to themselves, but for all that, it oozed out, 
and reached the ears of Kassai, that the nobles of 
Tigre were resolved to place Oubie on the throne of 
Ethiopia, and that the Coptic Bishop Abba Salama, 
was to anoint and crown the Emperor elect. Never 
did lover of the game of chess, play bishop against 
bishop, so dexterously — not that it reflects, in this 
case, much credit upon the player — as did the diplo- 
matic Kassai. He despatched a messenger to the 
Romish Bishop, Aboona Yakob, already named, to 
inform him, that he, Kassai, was prepared to embrace 
Romanism himself, and make it the established 
religion of Abyssinia, if the Aboona would crown him 
Emperor. The prince of intriguers did not see the 
purport of the artful move on the political chess- 
board ; he caught at the bait, and made the promise. 
Kassai, then led his army into Oubie's hereditary 
province of Semien. The Coptic Archbishop, Aboona 
Salama, thereupon moved a formidable piece against 
the black knight, and his force, saying " Cheque /" 
alias, Excommunication. But Kassai soon got out 
of cheque, by playing the Romish Bishop, Aboona 
Yakob, who had power to absolve what Bishop 
Salama thought proper to bind. The Coptic Aboona 
saw that he was likely to be checkmated, if he con- 



33 



tinued to cover his knight Oubie, he therefore sur- 
rendered to Kassai. He stipulated however, that the 
Coptic persuasion should be" the established religion 
of the empire, and that Bishop Yakob, and his pawns, 
or priests, be removed from the Abyssinian board 
altogether. Aboona Yakob did not wait for banish- 
ment, he had the discretion to run away, which he 
evidently considered the better part of valour. 

Oubie was determined to fight it out, in spite of 
the Coptic Aboona's defection ; he therefore moved 
his whole army against Kassai. The encounter was 
an appalling one ; Kassai' s warriors, though used to 
the greatest dangers, and acts of daring, began to 
quail when they beheld the immense army which 
Oubie brought into the field. Insubordination and 
mutiny stared Kassai in the face. But Kassai, 
like another live Emperor, believes that he has a 
mission, and was, and is, proof against the most 
imminent and impending dangers. He bravely rode 
up to the front of his army, and harangued his forces, 
in a clear, commanding voice. He thrilled the breath- 
less host into rapturous enthusiasm, by arraying before 
them a graphic retrospect of their former glorious 
achievements, and wound up his impassioned address 
in the following defiant words : — " And now after all 
our numerous conquests, does yonder rheumatic 
dotard chill the ardour of your prowess ? Do yonder 
guns, charged with powder and rags, cow your souls ? 
Are yonder rocks and chasm a barrier to your 
bravery? Follow me, and to-morrow, by this time, 
my name will be no more Kassai, but Theodoros, 

c 



34 



for God has given me the Kingdom." This happened 
on the tenth of February, 1856, one of the most 
awfully memorable days, in the annals of Abyssinian 
warfare. 

The Tigrani army was utterly routed ; Oubie him- 
self was wounded and captured. On the twelfth day 
of that month, Kassai disappeared, and Theodoros 
— so named by Aboona Salama, when anointed and 
crowned — came into being, as king of kings, i.e. 
Emperor of Ethiopia. Such is a brief sketch of the 
man, from destitute childhood to an imperial throne, 
who has brought us together this evening. 

It will thus be manifest that the reigning sovereign 
of Abyssinia is under the impression that he is the 
object of that native legendary prophecy, in whose 
reign Christianity is to become the creed of the 
world. Emperor Theodoros stoutly affirms his lineal 
descent from the problematical Menilek, scion of 
Solomon, king of Jerusalem. His grateful dream is 
to be one day anointed and crowned in the Holy 
City. 

Soon after the accession of the present king of 
Ethiopia to supreme power, Dr. Krapf came to Abys- 
sinia, for the third time, to establish a mission there ; 
he met with a very favourable reception from his 
majesty. The Emperor and the Aboona granted to 
the indefatigable evangelist, leave to establish a 
Protestant mission in Abyssinia. Theodoros then, 
and for several years afterwards, entertained the 
kindliest feelings towards England, as well as towards 



35 



other Christian powers. On his accession to the 
throne of Ethiopia, he addressed the Sovereigns of 
Great Britain, France, Russia, Prussia, and others, 
seeking their alliance, protesting his detestation of 
Mohammedanism, and resolving to root out that 
noxious weed from his dominions. He moreover 
proposed to Alexander II, that they should unite 
their strength, with a view to partitioning the lands 
of Mohammedanism between themselves. He also 
intimated his desire to be crowned at Jerusalem, as 
became the lineal successor of Menilek, the son of 
the great and wise king of Israel.* Of course, all 
this proves Theodoros to be a visionary, a man of 
extravagant .ambition, and of exaggerated expecta- 
tions. But not one whit more so than was Napoleon I. 
However, Theodoros was, for a time, sincerely and 
friendly disposed towards England, and to the estab- 
lishment, in his territory, of English Christian missions, 
which the other Emperor never was. That dis- 
position may have been fostered by Messrs. Bell and 
Plowden, but there it was. 

Let me quote here a few passages from Mr. Stern's 
work, which will enable you to form a pretty accu- 
rate opinion of the heterogenous combinations in 
Theodoro's character: — "With the greatest courtesy 
the king beckoned me to come nearer, a condescen- 

*The author whilst in Russia, in 1855, at a time when the representa- 
tives of all nations nocked to do honour to the august enthronement of 
Alexander II., was very much entertained by the heads of the principal 
Convent and College, the Nevskoi, with the narratives about the Abyssinian 
delegates, and the principal objects of their mission. The author must, 
in justice, own that the Abyssinians were the most picturesque indi- 
viduals amongst the mixed multitude, both at St. Petersburgh and Moscow. 

c 2 



36- 



sion towards a Frankish priest which made many a 
haughty chief sneer, and then in a tone of the 
utmost affability, he interrogated me about the 
various countries I had visited, the character of the 
people, and the religions they professed. That a 
christian nation like the English should tolerate 
Idolatry in India, and uphold the power of Moham- 
medanism in Egypt and Turkey, he could not 
understand ; and as politics and religion are synony- 
mous terms in Abyssinia, I thought it advisable 
merely to observe that Christianity taught us to 
love, and not to persecute; to instruct and not to 
oppress an unbeliever. 4 Avoonat ! Avoonot ! ' 
(True! True! ') he exclaimed; 4 and if this is your 
design in Abyssinia, you have my approval to your 
mission, if you likewise obtain the assent of the 
Aboona.' On my craving permission to travel in 
his realm, in case the Metropolitan countenanced the 
object which brought me to Abyssinia, he instantly 
replied, 4 1 am your brother and friend, and you have 
my full sanction to visit every province in my 

kingdom." 

4 4 In the afternoon, Mr. Bell and myself were sum- 
moned to the royal tent, where, for some time we 
conversed on several of the most important articles 
of our faith. I was quite astonished to find that 
his Majesty was so well acquainted with many 
portions of God's Holy Word; and though his 
religious knowledge partook deeply of the super- 
stitions and errors of his church, yet it was quite 
evident that he had studied the Bible, and had 



37 

received a good impression from its sacred contents. 
I mentioned to him some of the results of modern 
missions, and if he had won a great battle, he could 
not have manifested greater delight and pleasure 
than he expressed on hearing of the achievements 
of the Cross." » 

" During our conversation, I incidentally alluded 
to the promise, 4 Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her 
hands unto God.' On hearing this quotation, his 
whole countenance, usually stern and grave, assumed 
a happy and smiling expression, and, as if engaged 
in some deep reflection, he made a short pause in 
our conversation, and then exclaimed, in a tone in 
which mistaken piety and ardent zeal were evidently 
blended, 'Let God give victory to my arms, and 
peace to my empire, and the Cross shall not lack 
support in my country !" . 

"His Majesty . . . immediately, on hearing 
that we had come to pay our respects, turned 
towards us, and, in a clear, ringing voice said, 4 My 
children, you are welcome/ This brief salutation, 
which really expressed more than all those pathetic 
and farcical compliments, in which Abyssinians at 
every meeting indulge, was followed by some in- 
quiries about Europe and the nations beyond Jeru- 
salem. I told his Majesty that it was customary 
to congratulate those who entered into the happy 
bond of matrimony, and that we gladly availed our- 
selves of our national practice to present to him 
our unfeigned wishes and prayers on the auspicious 
event, which had caused such universal and sincere 



38 



joy through his empire. 6 My people,' he quickly 
replied, 4 are bad ; they love rebellion and hate 
peace ; delight in idleness, and are averse to industry ; 
but, if God continues to me my life,' added he, with 
glowing ardour, c I will eradicate all that is bad, and 
introduce all that is salutary and good.' We spon- 
taneously breathed our ' Amen,' to this hopeful 
prophecy of a man, who certainly has the will and 
inclination to raise his country from its present 
moral, social, and religious degradation, though un- 
fortunately, his defective education, uncontrollable 
ambition, and hasty temper, must all undergo a 
severe discipline, ere he can prove himself — as his 
flatterers pretend — worthy of the title and achieve- 
ments which are to inaugurate, according to an old 
legend, the golden reign of the great Theodoros. 
On retiring he ordered that two cows should be 
given to each of us, and also that a large tent should 
be pitched for our accommodation in the vicinity of 

his residence." 

"In the camp, notwithstanding the chilliness and 
cold of the early hour, we found the king already 
up, and actively engaged in dictating dispatches to 
the half-naked, shivering scribes, and in giving 
orders to the no less courtly attired commanders of 
his troops. In deference to the white visitors, and 
to the satisfaction of the chilled officials, business 
was for a brief interval suspended. His Majesty 
asked us a variety of questions about Europe, its 
divisions, creeds, armies, and warfare. He was 
quite surprised to hear that in Christian countries 



A 



39 



prisoners of war were generously treated, and 
women and children, youth and innocence, exempt 
from all its penalties. 1 You are,' he replied, ' superior 
to us in all things ; and if God permits, I shall soon 
send an embassy to England to open the eyes, of at 
least, a few of my people.' " * 

What a diamond ! though in the rough. What a 
nugget! though in the ore. Would! that the 
sovereigns of civilized Europe had thought it worth 
their while to polish and refine a prince, in whom 
there was once so much good ! I might keep you 
the whole night in adducing tokens and instances of 
the same. But I must draw towards the conclusion, 
and end, for which this lecture is given. I shall 
therefore now address myself to the once friendly 
treatment of, and now cruel, tyrannical, and inhuman 
conduct towards, certain English Missionaries, and a 
British Consul. 

Let me return for a while to the Falashas of 
Abyssinia. I have told you that the deportment of 
that remnant of Israel was — towards those out of the 
pale of their communion — isolated, reserved, unsocial 
and repellant in the extreme. Those characteristics, 
along with the depravity of the Coptic Christians, 
rendered a Christian mission to the Falashas, humanly 
speaking, hopeless. "The London Society for pro- 
moting Christianity amongst the Jews," however, is 
not influenced by human probability, but guided by 
the positive behest of Israel's Redeemer ; they availed 

^Wanderings anwng the Falashas in Abyssinia. By the Eev. Henry A. 
Stern.— pp. 56, 57, 60, 61, 122, 123, 149. 



40 



themselves therefore of the opening in Abyssinia, and 
of Theodoro's reported good will towards this country, 
and despatched the Kev. Henry A. Stern, and 
Mr. Bronkhorst, to organise a mission among the 
Falashas. 

The Missionaries reached Gondar, the present 
capital of Ethiopia, in the beginning of 1860. The 
reception of them, as already anticipated by the 
extracts from Mr. Stern's work, by the Emperor and 
the Aboona was most courteous, cordial and hospitable. 
Both his Majesty and his Grace, accorded to the 
English Missionaries permission and facility to preach 
the Gospel to the hitherto inaccessible Falashas. The 
Missionaries made the best use of the license, and 
their labours, amongst the objects of their solicitude, 
were crowned with the most signal blessing. Perhaps 
never, since the age of the Apostles, was such a 
measure of success vouchsafed to evangelists. 

Mr. Stern left his fellow-missionary, Mr. Bronk- 
horst, to carry on the work of evangelisation, whilst 
he himself came back to Europe to tell of the door of 
usefulness opened for the work of God, by means of 
that Society. Mr. Stern, on his return to the west, 
electrified the whole of Christian Protestant Europe 
with the intelligence which he brought home. 
Never did the immense crowd in Exeter Hall feel so 
truly influenced to do good unto Israel as on the 
third day of May, 1861, when Mr. Stern narrated 
some of the things which he had heard and seen in 
Abyssinia, amongst the remnant of Israel there.* 

* See Appendix B. 



41 



Three great disasters befell Abyssinia, during Mr. 
Stern's stay in England. First, the murder of the 
English Consul Plowden. Secondly, the fall in a 
battle, consequent to the murder, of the King's best 
friend and counsellor, the English Mr. Bell. The 
King's painful sense of those two great calamities, 
evinced itself, not only in the terrible vengeance 
which he wreaked upon the murderers, but also in 
the magnificent reception which he gave to Consul 
Plowden's successor, Cap tainCharles DuncanCameron, 
who was appointed Consul for Massowah and 
Abyssinia. Eye-witnesses reported, that the royal 
reception was so splendid, as no European expe- 
rienced before. The Consul was the bearer of a 
friendly letter, and a small present from the English 
Government. Captain Cameron stood a fair chance 
to fill up, in the King's heart, the affectionate esteem 
which his Majesty entertained towards the two 
lamented English gentlemen, Messrs. Bell and 
Plowden. 

Thirdly. I stated that three great disasters befel 
Abyssinia, during Mr. Stern's stay in England ; the 
third was the most disastrous of all. An evil influ- 
ence, like that evil spirit which tormented the 
demented Saul, began to work at the Abyssinian 
Court. A Frenchman of the name of Bardel, a 
minion of the expelled Jesuits, made his way to 
Gondar, about the same time that Captain Cameron 
arrived there, and even pretended to have come to 
the Abyssinian capital under the wing of the new 
English Consul. This French Jesuit, craftily obtained 



42 



the ear of Theodoros, and was not long in poisoning 
it against the English Government, and the English 
Missionaries. He succeeded in placing the British 
Consul, and the Protestant Missionaries, unknown to 
those gentlemen, at a great disadvantage. 

The Emperor Theodoros, however, true to his 
great idea, to form alliances with all other Christian 
states, despatched, in the beginning of November, 
1862, Captain Cameron and M. Bardel, respectively, 
as his especial envoys, with autograph letters, to Queen 
Victoria, and the Emperor Napoleon. We do not 
care much about the contents of the missive to the 
Emperor of the French, but we feel rather curious to 
learn whether the Abyssinian potentate, had so 
grossly committed himself, in his communication to 
Her Majesty, as to have incurred the penalty of 
silent contempt. I give you, therefore, the transla- 
tion of his letter, as presented to the House of Lords 
at the end of last May : — 

"In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost, one God in Trinity, chosen by God, 
King of Kings, Theodoros of Ethiopia, to Her 
Majesty Queen Victoria, Queen of England. I 
hope your Majesty is in good health. ■ By the power 
of God, I am well. My fathers, the Emperors, 
having forgotten our Creator, He handed over their 
kingdoms to the Gallas and Turks. But God created 
me, lifted me out of the dust, and restored his empire 
to my rule. He endowed me with power, and 
enabled me to stand in the place of my fathers. By 
His power, I drove away the Gallas. But for the 



43 

Turks, I have told them to leave the land of my 
ancestors. They refuse. I am now going to wrestle 
with them. Mr. Plowden, and my late Grand Cham- 
berlain, the Englishman Bell, used to tell me, that 
there is a great Christian Queen, who loves all 
Christians. When they said to me this, 'We are 
able to make you known to her, and to establish 
friendship between you,' then in those times I was 
very glad. I gave them my love, thinking that I 
had found your Majesty's goodwill. All men are 
subject to death, and my enemies, thinking to injure 
me, killed these my friends. But by the power of 
God, I have exterminated those enemies, not leaving 
one alive, though they were of my own family, that 
I may get, by the power of God, your friendship. 

"I was prevented, by the Turks oocupying the 
sea-coast, from sending you an Embassy when I was 
in difficulty. Consul Cameron arrived with a letter, 
and presents of friendship. By the power of God, I 
was very glad hearing of your welfare, and being 
assured of your amity. I have received your presents, 
and thank you much. 

"I fear that if I send Ambassadors with presents 
of amity, by Consul Cameron, they may be arrested 
by the Turks. And now I wish you may arrange 
for the safe passage of my Ambassadors everywhere 
on the road. 

" I wish to have an answer to this letter, by Consul 
Cameron, and that he may conduct my Embassy to 
England. See how the Islam oppress the Christian*" 

Different lots fell to the two different envoys* On 



44 



his way to the coast, Captain Cameron was stopped 
in Tigre, by a rebel chief, at the head of three hun- 
dred men, and compelled to take refuge in the 
Sanctuary at Axum,* which caused some delay on 
his part; and on the arrival of his dispatches at 
Massowah, they had to be sent to Europe by the 
circuitous route of Aden ; so that they did not reach 
London till the middle of February, 1863. Who 
informed the 'rebel chief of Captain Cameron's 
mission? How was it that M. Bardel, not only 
was never stopped by any 4 rebel chief,' but that he 
met, immediately on arriving at Massowah, with the 
French Frigate c Le Curieux,' which at once conveyed 
him, with his dispatches to Jedda and Suez ; so that 
he arrived with them at Paris, most probaby before 
the English dispatches had reached Aden ? 

Never contemplating the probability that the 
Foreign Office would treat with neglect, or indiffer- 
ence the Emperor Theodoros' autograph letter to 
her Majesty — far more quaint and eccentric royal 
dispatches, than the one I have just read, have been 
treated with polite deferenee by various governments 
— Captain Cameron proceeded into the country of 
Bogos, with a view to investigate certain aggressions, 
on the part of the governor of the adjoining Egyp- 
tian province of Taka, and other matters in dispute. 
For that proceedure he not only had the example of 
his predecessor, Consul Plowden, who did the Very 
same thing in 1854, and was praised for so doing by 

* Axum is one of those Sanctuaries which possess the privileges of 
a City of Refuge. 



45 



the Foreign Office, but the act and deed was in strict 
accordance with one of the instructions which Earl 
Russell sent to Consul Cameron, for his guidance, as 
HerBritannic Majesty's accredited agent at Massowah 
and Abyssinia.* Captain Cameron had, however, 
hoped that by the time he had adjusted the differ- 
ences between the rival tribes, Earl Russell would 
have returned an answer to the Abyssinian Emperor's 
autograph letter. Never was hallucination half so 
delusive ! In the mean time there was not wanting 
adverse influence, at Gondar, against "perfidious 
Albion's treachery." No one need to be told where 
the phrase was forged. 

I must now ask you to return for a short time to 
the Missionaries. Whilst in England Mr. Stern 
published that interesting work from which I read to 
you a couple of pages, in the course of this lecture. 
It consists principally of a chronicle of his travels 
to, and in Abyssinia. Unhappily the book contains 
a few sentences which tell the old, old, story that 
every picture has a dark side, as well as a bright one. 
The picture of king Theodoros is no exception to 
the general rule, but that rather, in his case, the side 
which is not bright, is one of thick darkness. 

By way of parenthesis. — I agree with the able 
writer of the leader, on the subject, published in the 
" Times" of October 16th, [1865,] that Mr. Stern 
must have been forgetful, at the time when he wrote 
his book, of Solomon's wise caution against cursing 

* See Appendix C. 



* 



4tf 



a king even in thought. But I can not think with 
the writer that that forgetfulness mainly contributed 
to the misfortunes which have befallen himself, and 
other Europeans.* 

Mr. Stern returned to Abyssinia, in the beginning 
of 1863, in company with Mr. and Mrs. Rosenthal. 
He found the mission in a most prosperous state. 
Mr. Bronkhorst and Mr.Flad had met with ready access 
to the most repellant and ascetic Falashas. The last 
letter which Mr. Stern wrote, at the end of that year, 
testifies to the great success which the Gospel met 
amongst the Abyssinian Jews.f But a heavy cloud, 
and an ominous one, hung over the Gondar imperial 

* The following extract from the imprisoned Missionary Eosenthal, 
dated "Magdala Amba, September 16th, 1865," repeats the incontro- 
vertible fact — to which certain parties obstinately shnt their eyes and 
ears — that the misfortunes of the British captives in Abyssinia are trace, 
able to a different cause from that of Stern's book : — 

" You remember that the whole affair of our imprisonment turns around 
the Government Letter. Had the same arrived a year ago, without any 
further comment, it is probable that we had long ago enjoyed liberty. 
Would the same were presented, even with ceremony, or without it, — 
delivered either by an Englishman or an Abyssinian, — we are pretty con. 
fident that, if not permitted to leave the country, our imprisonment would 
at least be at an end. So the whole matter finishes in this : — On account 
of this oft mentioned letter, kept in some secluded spot of the universe 
for some time longer, we have no other hope but to remain to an indefinite 
period in Magdala, or some other unpleasantly elevated locality of the 
Abyssinian highlands, until its arrival. The difference, however, which 
now exists, is this : — formerly the king only desired an answer. The pro- 
posal was made to him that a gentleman should forward that document, 
and at the same time effect a reconciliation between the two parties. It 
only stands to reason that the Negoos expects, as the case remains, that 
both should be carried out. And the one without the other would not be 
sufficient to effect our release. There is still another, and serious con- 
sideration. His Majesty has been informed so often of the arrival at 
Massowah of the letter, without its making its appearance here, that if it 
does not come soon, or that gentleman at Massowah does not find an open 
road to forward it, his Majesty might think that all the letter affair is a 
delusion, only practiced upon him to get us quietly out of the country. 
And if he has once made up his mind this way, it might be a bad job for 

us His pride was wounded in not receiving an answer to his 

letter. This he wanted, and nothing else " 



t See Appendix D. 



47 



court, which forbade approach, uninvited, at the peril 
of the intruder. I shall now let Mr. Stern tell the 
sequel, in his own way, by a few extracts from his 
letters which have recently reached London, 



"But I must not be prodigal with the limited 
quantity of paper at my disposal, nor dare to be 
diffusive in my statements without attracting the 
eyes of the guards : therefore I simply jot down the 
chief points connected with my own and fellow- 
prisoners' painful history. You are aware that in the 
beginning of April, 1863, I reached Abyssinia. Our 
mission, though restricted in its operations, was then 
most prosperous, and despite obstacles, I cherished 
the most hallowed anticipations respecting the future. 
In June, Captain Cameron, Her Britannic Majesty's 
Consul, arrived a second time at Genda. The king, 
who had been at some distance, also quite accidentally 
came into our neighbourhood. During his stay in 
our vicinity, I heard several times that he was an- 
noyed that Captain Cameron had not brought an 
answer to his letter to the British Government, and 
also for having gone round the frontier, and formed, 
as was falsely represented, prejudicial intimacies with 
his enemies, the Turks. Against us and our mission 
I also heard unfavourable reports. Not expecting 
violence or forcible detention, even under the most 
adverse circumstances, I visited the Falashas of 
various districts. . . . About the 20th of Sep- 
tember I came back to Genda, and on the evening of 



48 



my return a royal order summoned the British Consul, 
all the Missionary agents, and myself to Gondar, to 
hear the reading of the letter which Mons. Bardel 
had brought from the Emperor of the French. . . The 
crisis, which for some time had been looming in the 
distance, was now drawing nearer and nearer. All 
felt that there was something impending ... I 
remained at Gondar till Tuesday, and then bade a 
final adieu to the Bishop and other friends, and 
quitted, as I thought for ever, the capital of Abys- 
sinia. . . . Here [in the plain of Woggera,] to 
my surprise, I saw the king's white tent glittering in 
the sun's rays, on one of the heights which dot the 
plateau. Duty, as well as courtesy, forbad me to 
advance without saluting his Majesty. This induced 
me to halt, and towards afternoon I proceeded, ac- 
companied by two of my servants, of whom one spoke 
a little Arabic, to the royal camping ground. After 
waiting about two hours, his Majesty came into the 
open air. Myself and attendants immediately made 
a most humble obeisance. There was a frown on the 
king's countenance, which argued nothing auspicious. 
Between the first question and the death of my two 
servants, the hand of time could not have advanced 
ten minutes. The gloom of approaching night, the 
rattling of sticks, and my own doubtful fate, prompted 
me to put my hand mechanically to my hps, or as it 
was said, to put my finger into my mouth. This was 
construed into a crime, and hi less time than these 
words take to pen, I was stript, beaten, and lay almost 
lifeless, on the ground. Wounded, bruised* and 



49 



bleeding, my executioners dragged, or rather carried 
me down the hill, where my swollen wrist was fastened 
by a hoop and a chain to the arm of a soldier. . . 
At daylight I was given into the charge of several 
chiefs, whilst the king moved on to Gondar. The 
villagers, as also my guards, showed me much sym- 
pathy, and like the good Samaritan, they washed my 
wounds, and brought me an abundance of milk, the 
only nourishment my inflamed lips and gums allowed 
me to swallow down. Mid-day, my servants, strongly 
guarded, were conducted to my temporary prison, and 
never shall I forget the shrieks, lametations, and 
agonising contortions which the sight of their afflicted 
master occasioned. Orders had been sent that I 
should have foot and hand fetters, but as my ankle 
was too much inflamed for the hoops, they trans- 
gressed the royal command, and only tied my left 
hand to my right ankle. The next day a detach- 
ment of troops came to escort me and my servants 
to Gondar. I was now treated as a regular criminal ; 
in fact my position became so painful, and my physical 
sufferings so intense, that I looked for death as a 
happy release. The abject condition to which I had 
been reduced, softened even the flinty hearts of my 
guards, and amidst words of comfort and hope, they 
told me in whispering breath that my intimacy with 
the Bishop, and the report that he had sold the Church 
lands to me and the British Consul,* were the cause 
of my misfortune, and that it might have fared worse 
with me had I passed the royal camp, as arrangements 

*See Appendix E. 

D 



50 



had already been made for my arrest. . . . On 
the fourth day (I believe) Mr. Flad. Mons. Bardel, 
Samuel (a convert [and a namesake] of Bishop 
Gobat),* and two officers of the royal household, 
came to inspect my luggage, as I was suspected of 
haviug letters from the Bishop or Captian Cameron. 
My photographic sketches, and a well assorted col- 
] action of insects, however, entirely absorbed their 
curiosity, and the search turned out to be only a 
farce. 

u In going away, I mentioned to Mons. Bardel, 
that I had papers and diaries which might com- 
promise me, to which he readily replied, 4 Don't be 
afraid; for, if anything is found, I will say they 

are the journals of a gentlemen in 

England.' My visitors gave me, and my luggage, 
again in charge of the guards, and then left . . . 
The anticipated arrival of favorable letters from the 
British Government, as well as the energetic efforts 
of the Metropolitan and other friends, dispelled every 
doubt of my speedy release. Captain Cameron, Her 
Majesty's Consul, also kindly offered to exert him- 
self officially in my behalf, but I disclaimed all assist- 
ance that was not strictly of a conciliatory and 
friendly character. About the beginning of Novem- 
ber, the King wrote to his European workmen at 
Gaffat, that he had tortured me long enough, and 
that if they approved of it, they should come to 

* This Abyssinian Samuel is the friend and confidential correspondent 
of his spiritual father, the right reverend Samuel, of Jerusalem. The 
character of that convert may be gathered from Appendix E. 



51 



Gondar and reconcile us. My prospects now looked 
bright and hopeful, when, unexpectedly, his Majesty 
was informed (I know by whom, but will not, without 
positive "proof give the name)* that I had papers 
unfavorable to him. This was exactly four weeks 

after my beating and incarceration 

Unexpectedly, Samuel, and a party of soldiers, came 
rushing into my prison, seized every article in it, 
and carried it off to the King. My Egyptian servant 
Joseph, who had been my fellow prisoner, though 
not in chains, was desired to follow. Two hours of 
torturing suspense had elapsed, when bags, boxes, 
&c, were again brought back, minus every paper 
and book. I anxiously interrogated poor Joseph, 
about every incident, but he was so agitated and 
nervous, that I could only gather from his incoherent 
sentences, that every paper and book had been 
handed to Mons. Bardel, who acted as examiner . . 
The glowing prospect of freedom, and restoration to 
the bosom of my family, from that hour, like the 
declining rays of the sun, sank before my mind's 
vision, and all became again dark .... In the 
evening, I was giveni n charge of severer guards, and 
tied hands and feet . . . Twenty -five soldiers 
and five chiefs were now appointed as my regular 
guard .... One of the guards, into whose 
good graces, I wormed myself, informed me that I 
had an enemy at Gondar, and snapping his fingers, (a 
sign that all was over), ejaculated, ' We are all dust, 

* There is proof positive, that the Jesuit Bardel, and Samuel, Bishop 
Gobal's convert, were the informers. — See Appendix E. 

D 2 



52 



and must die.' . . . Makerer, a French servant 
of the British Consul, sent me word through a soldier, 

that the longed for letter from the British Govern- 
ment would arrive in two days, and that on Friday, 
I was to be liberated . . . Early that morning, 
to my agreeable surprise and gratitude, the feet 
chains were opened .... About mid-day my 
fierce chief gaily marched into the tent, and com- 
manded that I should accompany him to his Majesty. 
I immediately obeyed the summons ; but, instead of 
a private interview with the monarch, I found the 
whole army drawn up in a square, the furthest line 
of which was occupied by a kind of throne, on which 
sat the king, shaded by gigantic silken umbrellas. 
On the left side of his Majesty, I noticed Messrs. 
Bardel and Zander, and on the right, a host of 
priests and scribes; whilst in the interior of the 
square, and squatted on carpets, were ranged in 
opposite lines, the King's European workmen, Her 
Britannic Majesty's Consul, and the Missionaries . 
. . My Christian fortitude (and I do not say it in 
a boastful strain), which always rose higher as the 
danger became more imminent, almost flagged, as on 
looking round I saw Rosenthal in chains, standing 
about a hundred steps from me . . . The Fetha 
Negest was then read, and according to that code, 
the verdict of death was pronounced on all who 
spoke, wrote, or offended the King. Judgment being 
thus announced, before the accusations were read, 
the prisoners were naturally deprived of all defence 
or hope. For form's sake, the charges were, however 



53 



read. Ten articles were, I believe, brought forward 
against me, and the most formidable of these were 
the assertion, that a war between the King and a 
foreign power would remove intolerance, and intro- 
duce religious liberty — that since the death of Mr. 
Bell, the King had no good counsellor — that various 
provinces, and also Genda, had been plundered— and 
lastly, that in passing a place where lay bleaching in 
the sun 700 or 800 skulls, I had stated in my diary, 
they ( sic) had been murdered in cold blood. The only 
offensive statement in my book, of which I had 
unfortunately one copy, was the pedigree of his 
Majesty; and the last heavy crime consisted in my 
having a few harmless and complimentary notes from 
the Metropolitan. Eosenthal's sins, which were laid 
upon me, though I knew not a word of what he had 
written till that very moment, consisted in some 
remarks about the king's private life, in a letter to a 
relative in London . . / Knowing full well from 
sad experience what the verdict implied, I appealed 
to Samuel, and entreated him to solicit the royal 
pardon in our behalf. At first he did not deign to 
give a reply, but on reiterating the request he 
angrily replied 4 to-morrow, to-morrow.' 

" The king then waved his hand, and both Mr. 
Rosenthal and myself were led off to our common 
tented prison. The chains were again the same day 
fastened round our legs, and faith had once more to 
exert its energy, and seek refuge from surrounding 
despair in the arms of Omnipotence. Judgment was 
given on Friday, and on Monday morning all my 



54 



luggage was for the last time, carried off to the 

king. . . . On the next 

morning Samuel and an officer came to our prison, 
and in the name of his Majesty promised me a 
pardon and favours, if I confessed that through 
the family of the wife of Kas Oubie, one of the 
greatest men in the country, I obtained the informa- 
tion respecting the royal descent. I deprecated all 
acquaintance, direct or indirect, with that family, and 
my tormentors walked off in a discontented and angry 
humour. A spasmodic calm, like the lull of the 
elements before the outburst of the storm, now crept 
into our tents. We attributed this to the arrival of 
the impatiently expected letter from the British 
Government, an intelligence that came to us quite 

accidentally The memorable 4th of 

December at length broke, with wonted brightness, 
upon the afflicted and happy, the prisoner, and the 
free. About noon that day our fetters on the feet 
were removed, and escorted by a detachment of 
soldiers, we were conducted before the king. His 
Majesty was, on our arrival, engaged in administering 
justice, and for two hours we had to stand close to 
the criminals who were undergoing the dreadful 
punishment of the giraf, [a whip made of hippopo- 
tamus hide, about 5 feet in length.] On being sum- 
moned nearer, his Majesty ironically said in reference 
to an expression which had inadvertently dropped 
from my lips, Are you now afraid V We gave no 
reply, but quietly resigned ourselves to Him who is 
the help of His servants in all times of need. His 



55 



Majesty then peremptorily inquired why we had in- 
sulted him? Fearlessly, though respectfully, I 
returned, 'Our object has not been to insult your 
Majesty, nor have we written a single word in the 
language of this country ; but if we have done wrong 
we humbly crave your royal pardon ! Samuel, who 
acted as interpreter, had not quite finished translating 
this sentence, when the king commanded to take away 
our shamas and shirts. Miserable, wretched, with a 
mere rag around the waist, we were conducted back 

to our prison Our chief jailer, who had 

gone to the king, came back in about two hours; 
but instead of leading us to execution, as we had 
every reason to believe, he brought to each a tattered 
rag, and also ordered us to have some bread and 
water. 

"Kespite, and not release, did not lighten our 
burden or mitigate our mental and physical suffer- 
ings. . . . We now heard from all sides that 
our lives had been in imminent peril ; nay, we were 
assured that on the day the king had us stripped, the 
knives to cut off our hands and feet were actually 
lying close to the spot where we stood, and that the 
fell deed was only prevented by the energetic re- 
monstrances and intercession of the head of the 
monks. Thus almost miraculously delivered from 
mutilation and a horrible death, we shook off the 
depressing melancholy which deprived us almost of 
our senses, and began again to foster the prayerful 
hope of freedom and liberty. Fifteen days more of 
trouble and exhausting anxiety rolled away. I do 



56 

not recollect the date, but it was on a rainy and dull 
morning that our tent door was lifted up, and to our 
surprise as well as joy, there entered Flad, Samuel, 
and several of the Bishop's and King's people. My 
body being almost bent double by the chains, Flad 
softly requested me not to rise, as is customary at the 
reception of a royal message, but simply told me that 
his Majesty wished me to give him the exact price of 
certain silks which had been presented to him by the 
Metropolitan. Having finished the valuation, which 
I could easily do, as most had been purchased by me 
in England, Samuel ordered me to get up, and then 
he informed me that it had been the king's design to 
kill me, but that God had not permitted it, and that 
now I had the means of regaining the royal favor, if 
I supplied Mr. Flad, who was going to Europe, with 
letters to procure machines, and one or two gun- 
powder makers. On the return of Mr. Flad, his 
Majesty would also allow me to leave Abyssinia, and, 
that too, overloaded with presents, and a name famous 
in Africa and Europe. During the interval his 
Majesty would set me free, and afford me occupation 

in taking for him photographic sketches 

His Majesty sent the following day to open our hand 
chains, but on Mr. Flad's representation that my legs 
were in a bad state, the order was reversed. . . . 
Our affairs, though still undecided, assumed a more 
favourable aspect. We were again allowed to have 
a servant, and also clothing, which (you will smile) 
consisted of shifts from Mrs.Eosenthal's and Mrs. Flad's 
rifled wardrobes. What we most prized were two 



57- 



Bibles, a solace we had not enjoyed for six long and 

and trying weeks Two or three days 

after the above incidents, Mr. Flad and Samuel came 
again to me, and requested me to write to my friends 
to ensure the success of Mr. Flad's mission. Me- 
chanically I complied with the royal behest, and then 
made some oral arrangement with Flad on the sub- 
ject. Another year of exile appeared inevitable, 
The king himself communicated his agreement with 
me to the Europeans at Gaff at. Judging rightly of 
my feelings, they gently remonstrated with the king 
against my further detention, and instead of a machine 
and powder maker through me, they promised to 
provide themselves all that his Majesty required. 
Their objection appeared plausible to the king, and 
they were requested to come to the camp at Gondar 
to reconcile us, when Captain Cameron, uninformed 
of all this, sent in a letter demanding leave to depart 
for his post at ^Massowah, in compliance with orders 
from the British Government. This once more proved 
fatal to] my own and Rosenthal's prospects, and on 
January 3rd, 1864, Captain Cameron, his European 
servants, and all the Missionaries, were put in fetters, 
and we together with them, confined to one common 
prison, within the royal enclosure. 

"The above is a hasty, brief, and unvarnished 
statement of facts. . . . On a future occasion, 
if I get paper, I shall furnish you with an account of 
our subsequent career of sufferings, viz. : Messages 
from the king — Fresh hatred against me — Awful 
passage of Scripture — Suspected warning to me and 



58 



Rosenthal before execution— Full and complete par- 
don to Rosenthal and myself — Release of Fiad and 
the other Missionary agents — Mons. Bar del' s return 
from Kassala — Release of Rosenthal from his fetters 
— Controversy about religious fasts between the king 
and myself — Reckless temerity in quoting Isaiah lviii. 
—Public interview between the Metropolitan and 
myself — Refusal to incriminate him — Torture with 
ropes — Royal message, 6 1 know you are not afraid to 
die, but I shall not kill you ; on the contrary, I shall 
at regular intervals torture you (i.e. myself) till the 
flesh falls off in rotten pieces from your body' — 
Second nights' more frightful torture — Finally, re- 
moved all the prisoners to Amba Magdala. These 
and the former facts, if fully delineated, would form 
a book of real horrors, far stranger than the most 
improbable and terrifying fiction." * 

Well might poor Stern say at the beginning of his 
heart-rending letter, "Months ago my sufferings and 
imprisonment might have terminated, had not always 
some fresh and untoward event occurred to frustrate 
my hopes. The only comfort in all the afflictions 
that have been my lot for nearly nineteen months, 
[April, 1865,] is the consciousness that ever since a 
gracious Providence directed my wandering steps to 
this country, I have only sought the welfare of souls, 
and the glory of the Redeemer." 

I can not get rid of the presentiment that if Captain 

* Appendix E. which consists of extracts from a subsequent letter of 
Mr. Stern, throws much light upon the last brief sentences quoted above 



59 



Cameron's letters to the Foreign Office were pub- 
lished, their contents would fully prove that the 
iL always fresh and untoward event," Mr. Stern speaks 
of, belongs to that series of " strange and impolitic 
slights,"— as the writer in the " Times" alluded to # 
phrased it — with which the powers that be, in this 
country, had treated Theodoros. Moreover, that it 
was that series of " strange and impolitic slights," 
and not Mr. Stern's book, that has mainly contributed 
to the misfortunes which have befallen the English 
Missionaries, and other Europeans. As it is, we have 
only Earl Eussell's dispatch to Her Britannic 
Majesty's Consul General in Egypt, dated " Foreign 
Office, October 5th, 1865," to go by. Let us see 
what we can make of that dispatch. 

The document consists of forty-two paragraphs; 
I have numbered my copy accordingly.*)* Many of 
these paragraphs are scarcely relevant to the sad 
case, which gave occasion to its production. In the 
fourth paragraph we have a sort of an account of the 
beginning of friendly intercourse between England 
and Abyssinia. It purports to commence with the 
mission of Captain Harris, in 1841, to the king of 
Shoa. It should have commenced with Mr. Salt's 
mission, in 1798. 

In the paragraphs 5-8, we are informed that 
"the ruler of Tigre, Eas Oobeay, or Ubie, 
called Eas of Abyssinia, sent Mr. Coffin, an 
English traveller, with a letter and presents to Her 



*See p. 45. 



f See Appendix F. 



60 



Majesty." "No reply, however, was returned to 
this letter, and Eas Ubie was thereupon so angry, 
that he threatened violence to Mr. Coffin, for not 
bringing him a return present from the Queen." 
Very irrevelant; except as regards the precedent 
furnished by the Foreign Office, for not answering 
friendly letters, and as an instance of failing to learn 
wisdom by experience. 

In paragraphs 13-16, we are told of Theodoros' 
refusal to abide by the terms of the treaty concluded 
between England and Eas Ali, in 1849. Theodoros' 
autograph letter to Her Majesty disposes of the argu- 
ments advanced in that portion of the dispatch.* 

The observation in paragraph 17, respecting "the 
short tenure of power in the Abyssinian Kings," is 
equally applicable to France, and yet — . 

Paragraphs 20-21, whilst they contradict one 
another, contain a friendly hint for Egypt, that that 
power may encroach on Abyssinian territory with 
impunity. 

Paragraphs 23-32, contain an elaborate explana- 
tion for permitting the Turks to seize the Abyssinian 
Church and Convent, at Jerusalem. The effect of 
the explanation is however neutralised by a few 
pointed remarks on it, by a correspondent in the 
Pall Mall Gazette.'] 

Paragraphs 33-35, are somewhat confused and 
involved, but they admit most distinctly, though 
the admission is most reluctantly and circuitously 



* See pp. 42-43. 



fSee Note to Appendix F. 



61 



made, that the head and front of Captain Cameron's 
offence was the same as that of Mr. Coffin in 
1841, i.e. the neglect on the part of the Foreign 
Office, to answer the Abyssinian autocrat's letter. 
The most telling admission, however, of the culpa- 
bility of the Foreign Office, of the " strange and 
impolitic slights" with which the Times charges 
that department of the English Government, is 
furnished by the large present which Earl Eussell 
ordered to be sent, by Mr. Eassam, to Emperor 
Theodoros, even Five Hundred stand of arms. It 
is true the thing was done very privately, most 
secretly, but the State-secret oozecl out for all that. 
First, Mr. Kassain made a noise about the great 
number of camels which he required for his diplo- 
matic expedition. Then Mr. Eassam's brother-in-law, 
in London, when questioned about the number of 
camels, thoughtlessly gave the true reason. And 
when, in the month of May, [1865], Lord Chelms- 
ford, in the House of Peers, pointed out the 
discrepancy between Earl Eus sell's argument against 
a present being sent — namely that " the obvious 
inference would be, that the way to obtain consider- 
ation and respect from this country would be to 
imprison one of our Consuls" — and the fact of Earl 
Russell's order of the just named present ; the [then] 
Foreign Secretary did not attempt to gainsay the 
fact. Nor was the pointed allusion to the circum- 
stance, by Dr. Beke, in his letter to Earl Eussell, 
dated "May 19. 1865," — when that gentleman wrote 
that 'the transmission to Massowah of 500 stand 



62 



of arms as a ransom for Her Majesty's Consul, 
might, by some persons, and even by the . Egyp- 
tian Government, be looked on as doing covertly 
what would be repudiated openly' — ever contra- 
dicted by the Foreign Office. 

Paragraph 36, deserves to be quoted in extenso; here 
it is: — "There is no reason to suppose that Consul 
Cameron invited the Egyptian forces on the fron- 
tier, to commit agressions on the territory of Abys- 
sinia. It is far more probable, that the enemies of 
the British name in Abyssinia, should have infused 
unjust suspicions into the mind of the Emperor." So 
far, most reasonable ; how is one to characterise the 
sequel of that paragraph? "But certainly Consul 
Cameron, L in going to Bogos, acted without orders, 
and incurred the displeasure of his own Government." 
Can Earl Russell have forgotten that Consul Plowden 
was praised, at the Foreign Office, for exactly a 
similar step in 1856, " Without orders! //" The 
orders are plainly set forth in the letter of instruc- 
tions, from his Lordship to Consul Cameron, dated 
"Foreign Office, February 2, 1861."* Can it be as 
Dr. Beke has hinted, that "Egypt in 1863, under 
the able and energetic rule of Ismail Pasha, when 
with a crop of 150 millions of pounds of cotton, was 
very different from Egypt in 1854, under Abbas 
Pasha, when the country was on the verge of ruin!" 

It is earnestly to be hoped that this dispatch will 
never be interpreted to Emperor Theodoros ; other* 

* See Appendix C. 



63 



wise, woe betide the British captives in Abyssinia. 
His Majesty, with his quick perception, and keen 
suspicion, will certainly construe the last paragraphs 
39-42, as encouraging Turkey and Egypt to make 
short work of Ethiopia. * 

To the people of Eeading,f the story of Captain 
Cameron's undeserved sufferings must be one of 
most pathetic interest. How the poor captive's 
anguish will be embittered when the mournful intel- 
ligence reaches him. 

As regards the Christian Missionaries. — I have not 
the faintest doubt that their great sufferings will be 
over ruled for the promotion of the glory of Him 
whose ambassadors they are. The blood of Christian 
Martyrs has always proved the germ of a prolific 
harvest for the kingdom of God. The sufferings of 
Stern and Rosenthal will not prove an exception to 
the invariable rule of Grace and Providence. The 
Falashas in Abyssinia, as well as the Jews through- 
out the world — aye, Mohammedans and Pagans too, 
— must hear what Christian men can endure for their 
faith. Who can tell whether this, apparently in- 
scrutable dispensation of Providence is not the 
beginning of a glorious reformation, a glorious 

* Dr. Beke has addressed a critical analysis of the same dispatch to 
the " Times " Newspaper. The Editors of that journal, probably for lack 
of space, could not publish the Doctor's strictures in. their columns. A 
copy of the Doctor's letter has been put into the Author's hands, which 
he publishes as Appendix P. 

f The Lecture was delivered at Eeading within a few days after the 
funeral of Mrs. Cameron, the prisoner's mother, who died broken-hearted 
because of the harsh treatment which her captive son experienced, from 
the powers that be, at home and in Ethiopia. 



64 



future for Abyssinia. Far less significant beginnings 
have often proved the salvation of many a land and 
realm. Let any one read the wonderful story of the 
South American mission, and he will have an illus- 
tration of my meaning. " Hope deeekred, but not 
lost"* may be the title of a work, as regards Abys- 
sinia, in connection with Christian Missions. The 
history of the reformation in our own country may 
also prove a case in point. 

Had I been a diplomatist, I might have looked 
upon this untoward complication from a different 
point of view. I might have presaged the probable 
tactics of a neighbouring power, who, on beholding 
the exasperated fury into which this country has 
goaded the Emperor of Abyssinia, will sooner or 
later make an opportunity for currying favour with 
the slighted and insulted Sovereign. Then that 
power, when it saw fit to invade Egypt again, it 
could count upon Abyssinia's good will for itself, and 
her implacable hostility towards the country which 
had disdained and spurned her. Oh, that my words 
were winged ! — I would direct their flight to the ears 
of every loyal, patriotic, and Christian statesman in 
this land; yea to Houses of Parliament themselves 
when in full conclave ! But I am no diplomatist, I 
forbear therefore to deal with the question as 
Politicians will no doubt do, at the ensuing session. 

* Such is the title of a most interesting little work, which furnishes 
" a narritive of Missionary effort in South America, in connection with 
the Patagonian Missionary Society. Edited by the Eev. George Packen- 
ham Despard, B.A." In which the early conflicts and failures of that, 
now flourishing, Mission are set forth. 



65 



I am simply a humble Christian Minister, and deal 
with the question as an unsophisticated believer in 
God's Holy Word. That Word assures me that it 
is the Almighty's prerogative to make good come out 
of evil; to make the wrath of man subservient to 
His praise. I believe those prerogatives will be most 
luminously illustrated, by; the now melancholy 
clouds which darken the horizon of Abyssinia. 

I am solicitous of enlisting your christian sym- 
pathy, your generous co-operation, your benevolent 
aid, your liberal contributions in behalf of the fund 
now being raised for the liberation of the imprisoned 
captives. Fellow Christians ! let us afford an oppor- 
tunity to the Emperor of Abyssinia to judge of our 
religion — not by the unconcern and indifference with 
which our Government treat the imprisonment of our 
Missionaries and Consul — but by our brotherly and 
anxious solicitude for the release of our Christian 
Missionaries, and Christian Consul. Dr. Beke, by 
his mission, will furnish Theodoros with that oppor- 
tunity. The principle of that heroic gentleman's 
procedure, he has thus given in a letter, to the Pall 
Mall Gazette, date October 19th, 1865 

"My mission not being at all of a diplomatic 
character, I do not think of taking on myself the 
arrangement of the political differences between 
Abyssinia and England. Consequently I should not 
in the slightest degree interfere with anything that 
Mr. Eassam may have received instructions from 
Government to perform. My intention is to approach 

E 



66 



the Sovereign of Abyssinia as a suppliant on behalf 
of the distressed relatives of the captives, and to ap- 
peal to him as a Christian prince and father.* 

" From the light in which the Emperor Theodoros 
is generally regarded in this country, it may seem 
absurd to speak of him otherwise than as a brutal 
tyrant and barbarian. Without thinking of justifying 
or even extenuating his conduct towards our unfortu- 
nate countrymen, I may draw attention to the fact 
that in countries very much nearer home than Abys- 
sinia, political and other offenders have been, and 
indeed still are, treated scarcely less cruelly than 
Consul Cameron and his fellow sufferers. I have 
just been reading in the number of All the Year 
Round for June 10 last, of some recent occurrences 
in civilized Saxony which might not unfairly be 
placed side by side with those in " savage" Ethiopia. 

M As to Theodoros himself, in spite of all that may 
with perfect truth be said against him, he is not only 
amenable to reason, but is often actuated by the 
noblest and kindest sentiments. Of this we have the 

* Some of Bishop Gobat's admirers have rashly named that prelate as 
a fit and proper person to go and plead the cause of poor Stern and 
Rosenthal. Dr. Gobat might well exclaim, " Save me from my friends ! " 
Modern Jerusalem's "right reverend father in God" has a Rosenthal of 
his own to answer for, whose youngest son, a cripple, has just perished 
of starvation ; the merciful Bishop assured the poor lad, when he suppli- 
cated relief, that he would give him none, even if he perished of starvation 
in the streets. Conscience must long since have turned Simeon Rosenthal's 
relentless persecutor into a coward. The wrongs of the Jerusalem victim 
Rosenthal, are as widely known as those of the Abyssinian victim 
Rosenthal. We can easily imagine the colloquy between Bishop Gobat 
and Emperor Theodoros : — Bishop — " Brother, let me pull out the mote 
out of thine eye. Pity the sorrows of the poor Missionaries Stern, 
Rosenthal, and their families !" Emperor — " Brother, consider first the 
beam that is in thine own eye. Hast thou tempered judgment with 
mercy ? Hast thou pitied the sorrows of the poor Rosenthals of thine 
own flock ? Send some one else to plead for mercy, Aboo Samuel ! " 



67 



testimony of Mr. Stern himself in his unfortunate 
printed work, which furnished one of the grounds of 
accusation against him; of M. Lejean, in his able 
and well-known article in the Revue des Deux Mondes; 
of Mr. Hausmann, the Missionary, who brought the 
first news of the imprisonment of the captives, and 
who, in Christian Work for May, 1864, ascribes to 
him "a kingly character in the best sense of the ex- 
pression;" of Consul Cameron himself, who in a 
letter from which an extract was given by me in the 
Pall Mall Gazette of August 4 last, says of Theodoros, 
" He is a fine fellow, but does not understand foreign 
politics or foreign manners." And, lastly, the more 
recent letters from the captive Missionaries, written 
during their imprisonment, show that on several 
occasions he was inclined to liberate them; and in 
particular, Mr. Rosenthal relates how, on February 
19, 1865, "the king asked something of Mr. Stern 
in reference to the Bible, which I (Rosenthal) 
happened to answer, and being thus informed, he 
gave immediate orders for the opening of my chains." 

" Without intending, therefore, any disrespect to 
Her Majesty's Government, or to Mr. Rassam, or any 
other diplomatic agent they may employ, I cannot 
but entertain a deeply rooted conviction, based on 
the facts thus stated, and on my own knowledge of 
the character of the Abyssinians as well as of their 
sovereign, that my independent attempt to obtain the 
release of the captives, by a process entirely different 
from that hitherto employed has every reasonable 
prospect of success ; and when it is considered that 

e 2 



68 



up to the present moment all that has been attempted 
diplomatically has proved fruitless, it may at least be, 
that my undertaking will have the beneficial effect of 
aiding Mr. Eassam in bringing his labours to a satis- 
factory conclusion. — I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 

"Charles Beke." 

It will not be the first time, in the annals of the 
world, that the members of the Church of God have 
been instrumental in averting a disastrous calamity 
which an impolitic Cabinet invoked. Come then, one 
and all, to the help of the crying cause. It cannot 
be carried out without considerable pecuniary out- 
lays. Dr. Beke has generously and benevolently 
placed his \aluable time and great energy at the 
disposal of the Committee of that fund. Full of 
faith in his countrymen's Christian benevolence, he 
has already set out for Gondar, though the required 
sum is far, far more than that which has yet been 
raised. Let the brave man have no cause to com- 
plain that he has misplaced his confidence. 

Let me, in conclusion, ask you for a cordial and 
heartfelt interest in your most devout prayers, in 
behalf of the captives, as well as for the man, who 
has gone forth, with his life in his hands, to plead for 
their deliverance. 



APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX. 
A. 

Page 16. 



I might have indulged in an ominous array of the differ- 
ent translations, and interpretations, that have been palmed 
upon the four original words, 

• Wnt ps 

I shall, however, name the two most ancient ones, the 
parents of a numerous progeny of mis-translations and mis- 
interpretations. 

I. Septuagint. — "Ah! wings of the land of ships." 
Why thus paraphrased, no Hebrew power on earth can tell. 

II. Jonathan's Chaldee Targum. — "Woe to the land 
in which they come in ships from a distant country, and 
whose sails are spread out as an eagle which flies with his 
wings over against the rivers of India." Upon which Rabbi 
Solomon ben Isaac, or, as he is known amongst the Jews, 
Rashi, the great Hebrew Grammarian and Commentator of 
the thirteenth century, courageously remarks, " But I say, 
because they, (the inhabitants of that land), dwell in the 
east, and the climate of the land is warm, the feathered 
tribes congregate there, and the country becomes over- 
shadowed by the wings of birds. And this prophecy has 



72 



reference to the armies of Gog and Magog." What an 
arbitrary translation! What a fanciful interpretation! 
exclaims the careful and intelligent Critic. Not a whit 
more arbitrary *and fanciful than those translations and 
interpretations of unripe scholars of modern date. Dr. 
Benisch whimsically translates the four original words, 
by " land of the whizzing wings." Dr. Gumming, copying 
Bishop Horsley, Mr. Chanberlain, and others, maintains, 
with that tenacity peculiar to uncritical minds, that the 
words, "land shadowing with wings," mean a maritime 
nation, and that nation is meant to be Great Britain.* 

Two great men, however, have approached somewhat 
nearer than all the rest of Biblical Expositors to the idea and 
purport of the land implied by Isaiah though they did not 
exactly apprehend the precise meaning of his words. I mean 
Grotius and Vitringa. The former considers the burden of 
the address to be made respecting Ethiopa, as being bounded 
by mountains and hills. The latter makes Egypt to be the 
theme of Isaiah's eighteenth chapter, because Egypt being a 
nation under whose wings the Israelites sought shelter. The 
correct meaning of the word which has been rendered by 
our translators " shadowing," first occurred to me whilst 
annotating on Deut. xxviii. 42. "All thy trees and the 
fruit of thy land shall the TsaJtsal consume." Exactly the 
same word as in Isaiah xviii. 1 . Had our translators known 
the little insect Tsaltsalya, or Tsetse of Africa, they would 
not have rendered the word Tsaltsal by the word " locust " 
in Deut. xxviii. 42; nor by the word "shadowing" in 
Isaiah xviii. 1. 

Instead of indulging in a description of my own touching 

* I own that in my younger days, when my travels were not so extensive 
as they have been for the last score of years, when my experience was less 
versatile, and my reading more circumscribed than it now is, I espoused 
the self-same translation and interpretation, of which I am noW^ashamed, 
and am thankful for the courage to confess it. 



73 



the insect under review, I prefer giving Bruce's account 
of it, to be found in his fifth volume, published in 1790.* 

" Tsaltsalya, or Fly. The insect which we have here 
before us is a proof how fallacious it is to judge by appear- 
ances. If we consider its small size, its weakness, want of 
variety or beauty, nothing in creation is more contemptible 
and insignificant. Yet, passing from these to his history, 
and the amount of his powers, we must confess the very 
great injustice we do him from want of consideration. We 
are obliged, with the greatest surprise, to acknowledge that 
those huge animals, the elephant, the rhinoceros, the lion 
and tiger, inhabiting the same woods, are still vastly his 
inferiors, and that the appearance of this small insect, nay, 
his very sound (which, most probably, is the origin of his 
name, Tsaltsal, or Tsaltsalya), though he is not seen, 
occasions more trepidation, movement, and disorder, both in 
the human and brute creation, than would whole herds of 
these monstrous animals collected together, though their 
number was in a tenfold proportion greater than it really is* 

"The necessity of keeping my narrative clear and 
intelligible as I proceeded, has made me anticipate the 
principal particularities relating to this insect. His opera* 
Hons are too materially interwoven ivith the history of this 
country to be left apart as an episode. . . . x . Providence, 
from the beginning, it would seem, had fixed its habitation 
to one species of soil, being a black fat earth, extraordinarily 
fruitful ; and small and inconsiderable as it was, it seems 
from the first to have given a law to the settlement of the 
country. It prohibited, absolutely, those inhabitants of the 
fat earth, called Mazaga, domiciled in caves and mountains 
from enjoying the help or labour of any beast of carriage. 
It deprived them of their flesh and milk for food, and gave 

* Select Specimens of Natural History, collected in Travels to discover 
the Source of the Nile, in Egypt, Arabia, Abyssinia, and Nubia. 



74 



rise to another nation, whose manners are just the reverse of 
the first. These were the Shepherds, leading a wandering 
life, and preserving these immense herds of cattle by con- 
ducting them into the sands beyond the limits of the black 
earth, and bringing them back again when the danger from 
this insect was over. 

«' We cannot read the history of the plagues which God 
brought upon Pharaoh by the hand of Moses without 
stopping a moment to consider a singularity, a very principal 
one, which attended this plague of the fly. It was not till 
this time, and by means of this insect, that God said he 
would separate His people from the Egyptians. And it 
would seem that then a law was given to them that fixed the 
limits of their habitation. It is well known, as I have 
repeatedly said, that the land of Goshen, or Geshen, the 
possession of the Israelites, was a land of pasture, which was 
not tilled or sown, because it was not overflowed by the 
Nile. But the land overflowed by the Nile was the black 
earth of the valley of Egypt, and it was there that God 
confined the flies ; for He says, it shall be a sign of this 
separation of the people, which He had then made, that not 
one fly should be seen in the sand or pasture ground, the 
land of Goshen ; and this kind of soil has ever since been 
the refuge of cattle emigrating from the black earth to the 
lower part of Atbara 

" The Chaldee version is content with calling this animal 
Zebub, which signifies the fly in general, as we express it in 
English. The Arabs call it Zimb in their translation, which 
has the same general signification. The Ethiopic trans- 
lation called it Tsaltsalya, which is the true name of 
this particular fly in Geez, and the same in Hebrew. 

** ********* 
" I do not know that this insect, however remarkable for 



75 



its activity and numbers, has ever before been described or 
delineated." 

Can there be a doubt as to the insect which Moses meant 
by the appellation Tsaltsal ? Certainly not ! He meant 
none other than the Tsaltsalya, which the Israelites well 
knew to be one of the most fearful scourges that could be 
inflicted upon a nation. Our translators followed in the 
footsteps of uncertain guides, when they rendered the word 
locust. There can be no doubt that the Abyssinian traveller 
made a very good and an accurate hit, when he said: — vol. 1 
p. 390. f — "Of all those that have written upon these 
countries, the prophet Isaiah alone has given an account of 
this animal, and the manner of its operation. Isaiah vii. 
18, 19. 44 And it shall come to pass, in that day, that the 
Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of 

the rivers of Egypt And they shall come and 

rest all of them in the desolate vallies, and in the holes of 
the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all bushes." 

Surely " the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers 
of Egypt," is the same as the menacing Tsaltsal of Deut. 
xxviii. 42. 

The winged Tsaltsal was then the great distinguishing 
feature of the extreme part of Egypt, now known as Abys- 
sinia ! Now then have I obtained the purport of the opening 
chapter of Isaiah xviii. 1. 

"Ho! land of the winged Tsaltsal, 
"Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia ! " 

In other words, " Ho ! land of that fly, which is in the 

uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt." Every African 

traveller, and well informed student, knows that the region 

south of Egypt — the Cush, or Ethiopia, of Scripture — is a 

* The naturalist will find much in Bruce's work to interest him, in con- 
nection with the Tsaltsalya. Insignificant as the insect seems to be, it 
yet deserves an attentive examination and analysis. 

t The edition of 1790. Edinburgh, 



76 



land of rivers, and that all those on the north side are the 
sources of the Nile. The mountains of Ethiopia are, in fact, 
the water treasuries of the African Continent. 

Had the intelligent Scot thought of Isaiah xviii. 1, at the 
same time that he quoted the seventh chapter of that Prophet, 
he would have exulted in the illustration, which the later, as 
well as the earlier chapter, received from the terrible 
Tsaltsal. He would have exclaimed triumphantly : — " The 
region which Isaiah calls, in the seventh chapter * the utter- 
most part of the rivers of Egypt/ he calls in the eighteenth 
' The land, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.' More- 
over the insect which he calls in the former 4 fly,' he calls in 
the latter Tsaltsal ! The winged Tsaltsal spreads, in its 
season of depredation, as far as Melinda and Cape Gardefan. 



B. 

Page 40. 



The reader may form some idea of Mr. Stern and his 
work, by perusing the following extracts from the speech 
alluded to : — 

" Not quite a month ago I returned from Abyssinia, a 
country in which there are at least 250,000 Jews, whose 
conversion I prayerfully believe will prove the greatest bless- 
ing to central Africa ; and yet, notwithstanding the hopeful 
aspect of the field, and the cheering prospect it unfolds, till 
within the last two years the Jew in that benighted land 
could truly, in the agony of his upbraiding and troubled 
conscience, exclaim, 44 No man careth for my soul." Many 



77 



were the difficulties which opposed our progress ; we had to 
traverse unsightly deserts and dreary wilds, steaming 
malarious swamps, and thick, impenetrable jungles, yet not- 
withstanding all these obstacles which affected our health 
and undermined our energies, we pressed on in our journey, 
and in safety reached the land towards which our wandering 
steps had been directed. Here we thought that our difficulties 
were now at an end, and all our obstacles removed, and that 
without let or hindrance we might go from place to place, 
and proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ's Gospel ; 
but our hopes and expectations were destined to be most 
grievously disappointed. Religious toleration we discovered 
was not yet introduced into Abyssinia, and favourable as the 
king showed himself to us personally, he would not give his 
approval to our mission without the previous assent of the 
Aboona, or Metropolitan. But despite all these unfavour- 
able circumstances, we did not despair or lose our confidence, 
we saw that a great work was here to be accomplished, and 
a great conquest achieved, and without troubling ourselves 
how we should succeed in gaining the countenance of the 
King, or the approbation of the Primate, we committed our 
cause into the hand of the God of Missions, and to our joy 
and gratitude found that our very obstacles subserved the 
very object which had prompted us to make that exhausting 
journey, and helped to further the proclamation of the 
Gospel through many provinces of that benighted land. 
The Jews, with a suspicion and apprehension natural to a 
secluded and semi-barbarous people, when they heard of our 
arrival and the design we had in view, almost unitedly 
resolved not to have any intercourse or communication with 
men who avowedly came to wean them from the worship of 
the God of Israel to the worship of the senseless idols of 
the Abyssinian Church ; but when they heard that we had 
to encounter some opposition from the Metropolitan, and 



78 



that many priests declared that our creed as widely differed 
from their own, as that of the Falashas from that of the 
Abyssinians, curiosity became excited, sympathy was en- 
listed, and everywhere an anxiety awakened to hear these 
strangers, whom a pure desire to preach the truth contained 
in God's Word had impelled to make such a long and weary 
journey. The very first place which we visited verified our 
anticipations. There are near and around Gondar, the 
capital of western Abyssinia, a great number of Jewish 
settlements ; these we visited in regular succession. At first, 
indeed, I was a little disappointed, when, instead of the 
synagogues in which I had so often preached in Arabia and 
Turkey, I had merely a shady tree or sheltering rock assigned 
for the place of meeting. This reserve, however, on the part 
of the Falashas, or Jews, arose not from a desire to prevent 
our preaching, or the people from collecting around us. You 
may perhaps not be aware that the Jews in Abyssinia 
strictly adhere to the Levitical law; they have their high 
priest, inferior priests, sacrifices, and every other rite and 
institution contained in the Pentateuch, and it was entirely 
owing to these Mosaic observances that they excluded us 
from their Mesquids, or places of worship. But these open- 
air assemblies were in general so devout, so solemn, and so 
impressive, that I can assure you, that if I could only suc- 
ceed everywhere in obtaining such audiences, I should prefer 
the shady forest or the green field as a place for preaching, 
to the noblest hall or most stately cathedral. * * * 
"In a village south-east of Gondar, where we had been 
speaking for some time on our Lord's humanity, sufferings, 
and death, that sin might be cancelled and the sinner's guilt 
be expiated, one old woman became so deeply affected that 
suddenly she smote on her breast, and with tears streaming 
down her wan cheeks, she repeatedly, in the presence of all, 
ejaculated, " Oh, how great is our guilt ! that we reject love 



79 



so divine, and despise blood so precious !" I informed them 
that Mr. Bronkhorst would probably remain in the country 
and devote himself to their spiritual welfare. This so 
delighted them that when we took our leave, for a consider- 
able distance down the mountain, their blesings and good 
wishes reverberated on our ears from many a rock and 
overhanging cliff. In another settlement near the capital, 
where we had a large audience, the people, after listening to 
a sermon that might have exhausted the patience of many 
a Christian congregation, spontaneously exclaimed, " You 
tell us good words, and God hath evidently sent you to teach 
us the right path." Such and similar pathetic sentiments 
continually rung in our ears, and I am certain that whatever 
the future results may be, (and I believe they will in God's 
own appointed time prove nothing less than the conversion 
of the whole remnant of Israel in Habesh,) the finger of 
Providence directed our steps to that country, and the Spirit 
of God prepared their hearts for the reception of the blessed 
Gospel. In our visit to Aboo Maharee, one of the three 
great chiefs of the Falashas, we anticipated great opposition 
and even hostility to a work which all understood to be of 
such a character, that if it triumphed over their superstition, 
it must also sweep away the power of their priestly caste* 
To our delight, the high priest, with more than forty sub- 
ordinates, and perhaps double the number of the common 
people, welcomed us with a cordiality and kindness that was 
truly gratifying. There was something imposing and 
majestic in the appearance of this chief, which one could not 
behold without admiration and reverence. He is about sixty 
years of age, of a noble and commanding figure, high and 
expressive forehead, melancholy and restless eyes, and a 
countenance, no doubt, once mild and pleasing, but to which 
self-imposed penances, and a repulsive practice, have im- 
parted an expression most strange and unearthly. Myself 



80 



and companions simultaneously rose as he and his followers, 
in a well-ordered procession, approached, a compliment 
which all gratefully acknowledged; and then, as if by 
previous arrangement, the multitude squatted down on the 
right and left of the natural bower in which we had made 
our retreat, leaving a broad space as the rubicon between 
the polluted people and their holy priests. The severed 
multitude, in perfect bewilderment and wonder, stared at us 
with a stern, grave, and unmoved gaze, as if they wanted to 
penetrate our very thoughts, and to read in our very looks 
their hope or despair, joy or sorrow. There sat the old 
monk, macerated and wan, with the brown skin hanging in 
loose folds around his wasted features, and eyes sunk and 
lustreless from long mortification, or bright and sparkling 
with the mad fire of fanaticism. Close to this spectral-like 
appearance, as if seeking hope and comfort from mature age 
and sinking life, reclined the young novice, in whose placid 
and unnaturally smooth face, the struggles of painful super- 
stition, and perhaps the horrid consciousness that life with 
its attractions and ties had all been bartered for a disordered 
dream and a wild feverish fancy, were too glaringly traceable. 
The other group, among whom we noticed a good sprinkling 
of women, offered a strange contrast by their healthy looks 
and smiling expressions, to those mutilated, perturbed and 
unhappy-looking priests. It is true there was scarcely one 
in that assembly who had any doubt that these priests were 
self-denying and good men, who had renounced the world and 
all its fascinations for a life of devotion and piety, yet there 
seemed, as if by a general sympathy, some secret apprehen- 
sion, some latent fear, that, after all, those proud and 
secluded anchorites might be in error, and might, instead of 
the substance, be grasping a shadow, and instead of revealed 
truth, be clinging to a mere self-created fancy. In mere 
conformity with Abyssinian etiquette, that a stranger should 



81 



honour a chief or noble with a present, I gave to Aboo 
Maharee a gilt-eclged Bible, and a white dress, which, as he 
could not accept it from my polluted hand, he received in a 
bag of one of the priests. He was exceedingly pleased with 
this token of my regard, and after many elaborate thanks 
all rose, and, with much fervour and devotion, uttered an 
earnest prayer for my safety, and happiness. It was a 
moving sight to see such a vast number of priests and people, 
all with uncovered heads, supplicating the Divine blessing on 
the lonely and isolated Missionary. Many minutes elapsed 
before the effect of this unexpected scene had subsided, 
and then when all had again resumed their position, we 
expressed our gratitude for their reception, and assured 
them that our only desire in coming to them was to teach 
them the Word of God and to bring them to the knowledge 
of a Saviour. They unanimously expressed a desire to hear 
the essential truths of our faith, a request which we amply 
satisfied. Many candidly confessed that our words were an 
echo of Moses and David, (the portions of Scripture most 
read by them) and that they would be delighted to have us 
frequently amongst them, to consider, and to discuss with 
them, these solemn and important subjects. Aboo Maharee, 
himself, in a faltering and tremulous voice, said to me, 
" either you will become one of us, or I shall become one of 
you." This worthy chief, to convince us of his interest in 
our mission, ordered a learned Falasha-Debterah to conduct 
us to all the Jewish settlements, and to request the people in 
his name to welcome us as friends, and to listen to our 
instruction as teachers. This interview with Aboo Maharee 
produced a deep and favourable impression on all the Jews, 
and wherever we came, the report had already preceded us, 
that we were Falashas who had come from beyond Jerusalem 
with a great quantity of Scriptures. Thus did the Lord 
turn the hearts of that people, and dispose them to receive 



F 



) 

82 

the message of God's love and tlie Redeemer's Sacrifice. In 
some places, and particularly at Gencla, where our Mission- 
aries are at present settled, three of the most learned 
Falashas whom we met with in the whole country, expressed 
their conviction of the truth of Christianity, and their desire 
to be baptized. Time would not allow me to traverse with 
you all the districts and provinces I visited, but this I can 
truly say, that my missionary tour through Abyssinia, not- 
withstanding the troubles and difficulties which we had to 
encounter — notwithstanding the many dangers and trials we 
had continually to submit to — notwithstanding that we were 
often reduced to circumstances which, I believe, would have 
excited the compassion and sympathy of a guardian of one of 
your workhouses, or of the superintendent of one of your 
refuges, so much were we reduced as regards external 
appearances— that the journey, from the causes I have 
specified, was one of uninterrupted delight and continual joy. 
Frequently we visited three and four settlements in a day, 
and everywhere the woman, busy in her hut, and the peasant, 
working in his field, left the plough and the grinding-stone 
to hear the white messengers of the Cross. Some men 
followed us for days and days over mountains and valleys, 
through deep ravines and over rocky cliffs, and when we 
inquired why they accompanied us, the reply invariably was, 
" We want to know more of the Redeemer of Israel, whom 
you proclaim." The desire to possess the written Word was 
quite equal to the desire to hear the preached Word. I 
might advert to several instances, where men had come from 
Quara and Semien, the lowest and the highest lands in 
Abyssinia, to get a copy of God's Word for their com- 
munity, and as, in many instances, the limited stock which 
we could carry did not permit us to satisfy the demand of 
every applicant, men far advanced in life, and whose hardened 
features had never been moistened by a tear, sad and mourn- 



83 

ful, squatted down near our tent, weeping and sobbing as if 
their hearts would break. One man, who had come to 
Genda from a distance of several days' journey, on his- 
arrival found that we were gone. Nothing daunted, he took 
his staff and followed our track to Chamara, two days further, 
and there, when he met us, he. naively said, " The God of 
Israel sent Moses to teach us, and to communicate his Word; 
now, as you tread in the steps of Moses, you will, I am sure, 
not excite our desire for light and then leave us, without 
God's Word, to grope in the dark." Another, and he was a 
priest, said, " I visited Chamara on some busines, and just 
wanted to depart, when I heard you were coming. Well, 
thought I, these men love the Falashas, and are interested in 
their welfare, the God of Israel may therefore dispose them 
to give me a Bible for my people. I then went to your tent, 
but the crowd was so great in and about it, that I could not 
gain access to you. The next day I heard you preach, and 
again on the day following, I listened to a lengthened dis- 
cussion. Many afterwards got Bibles, but though I entreated 
most earnestly, God evidently did not dispose your heart to 
grant my request. Now, this morning, my hopes are again 
disappointed, but as I am accustomed to walk, you will allow 
me to follow you till God disposes your heart to yield to my 
prayer." Such, and similar language, we heard almost daily, 
and although we were unable to satisfy the importunate 
demands of all, yet I blessed God for having excited this 
spirit of enquiry — this yearning desire after His own life- 
giving Word. * * * * I say that England, if she is 
desirous, and no one doubts it, to arrest the progress of 
slavery, and to advance the happiness and well-being of a 
degraded people, and a sin-polluted land, let her not forget 
that an all-wise Providence has preserved Abyssinia's 
Christian name, in the midst of Pagan tribes, and Moham- 
medan conquerors, for some great and glorious purpose. 



84 



Even during my stay in that country, I was amazed at the 
excitement created by our preaching, throughout the various 
provinces we visited. Frequently, hundreds of Christians 
and Jews would meet together near our tent, and with the 
Word of God in their hands, canvass and investigate those 
truths which we had been .preaching. Let the Falashas 
therefore be brought around the Cross of the Redeemer, 
and you have a Missionary tribe to move the stagnant waters 
of unbelief and superstition in the Abyssinian Church ; aye, 
throughout the length and breadth of that blood and crime- 
stained Continent, you, by your prayers and contributions, 
may more efficiently aid in the emancipation of Africa, as 
well as in the accomplishment of the Divine promise, 
" Ethiopia shall stretch out her hands unto God," than the 
Government, by its yearly expenditure of many millions." 
— Jewish Intelligence, June 1861. 



C. 

Pages 45, 62. 



The following stands at the head of the papers "Presented 
to the House of Lords by command of Her Majesty, in 
pursuance of their (sic) Address dated, May 23, 1865." 

"1. Copy of instructions to Captain Cameron, British 
Consul at Massowah, upon his proceeding to his Consulate, 



85 



and a list of the presents which he was ordered to deliver to 
the king of Abyssinia." 

"No. 1. 

"Earl Russell to Consul Cameron. 

Foreign Office, February 2, 1861. 

" Sir, — Your first duty on arriving at Massowah, which you 
will consider as the head quarter of your Consulate, will be 
to make yourself acquainted with the general state of 
political affairs in Abyssinia. 

" Her Majesty's Government are so imperfectly informed 
in regard to what may have happened in that country since 
the death of your predecessor, that I am unable to lay down 
any very precise rules for the guidance of your conduct. 
The civil war which prevailed at that time may have been 
brought to a conclusion, decidedly favourable to one or other 
of the contending parties, or it may still prevail with the 
alternate success of either. 

" It seems to Her Majesty's Government undesirable that 
you should avow yourself the partizan of either of the con- 
tending parties, if the contest is still going on. Whatever 
interest Her Majesty's Government may have in Abyssinia, 
can best be advanced by the tranquillity of the country ; but 
if the British Agent becomes the partizan of one side, the 
rivalry of European interests, which, however disavowed by 
the Governments of Europe, is almost invariably found to 
exist on the part of their Agents in such countries as Abys- 
sinia, will stimulate Foreign Agents to declare a partizanship 
for the other, and thus a civil contest will be promoted and 
encouraged, which would otherwise die out of itself, or very 
shortly be brought to a conclusion by the decided prepon- 
derance of a victorious party. 

" The principles, therefore, on which you should act, are 
— abstinence from any course of proceeding by which a 



86 



preference for either party should be imputable to you; 
abstinence from all intrigues to set up an exclusive British 
influence in Abyssinia ; and lastly, the promotion of amicable 
arrangements between the rival candidates for power. 

"Her Majesty's Government are aware that religious 
rivalry has contributed its share to promote dissension in 
Abyssinia, but such rivalry should receive no countenance 
from a British Agent ; on the contrary, his study should be 
to extend, as far as possible, religious toleration of all 
christian sects, as being most consistent with the doctrines 
of Christianity and with sound policy. The British Govern- 
ment claim no authority to set up or advocate in a Foreign 
country one sect of Christianity in preference to another ; all 
that they would urge upon the rulers of any such country is 
to show equal favour and toleration to the profession of all 
Christian sects. 

"But although it is not desirable that you should engage 
in a contest with the Agent of any other power for superiority 
of influence, or that you should openly exhibit suspicion or 
jealousy of his proceedings, or of the influence which he may 
be supposed to have acquired, it will be your duty closely to 
watch any proceedings which may tend to alter the state of 
possession either on the sea-coast or in the interior of the 
country, and you will keep Her Majesty's Government at 
home, and Her Majesty's Governor-General of India, fully 
informed of all matters of interest which may come under 
your observation, sending your despatches under flying seal 
in the one case through Her Majesty's Agent and Consul- 
General in Egypt, and in the other through the Political 
Agent at Aden. 

" In addition to matters of a political or commercial 
nature, you will pay a particular attention to any traffic in 
Slaves which may be carried on within your district, and 
report fully upon the same ; and you will further avail your- 



87 



self of any suitable opportunity to impress upon any native 
Rulers who may directly or indirectly encourage or permit 
such a traffic, the abhorrence in which it is held by the 
British Government, and the dislike with which any parties 
who may have recourse to it are likely to be regarded in this 
country. 

" I am, &c, 
(Signed) " Russell." 



D. 

Page 46. 



The substance of Mr. Stern's last letter, previous to his 
imprisonment, addressed to his employers, is so suggestive, it 
may be said so prophetic, that it deserves to be read in connec- 
tion with his captivity. Let us trust that as his forebodings 
came to pass, so will his anticipations be realized. 

" In reference to our Mission, the hopes of extensive useful- 
ness which I expressed on my former visit, notwithstanding the 
inviduous criticism to which some subjected my statements, 
are at present, if not quite verified, far more promising than 
I then ventured to anticipate.* We have already a pious 

* Poor Stern alludes here to the stubborn and humiliating fact, that 
whilst large capital was made of his speeches and sermons about Abys- 
sinia, the speaker and the preacher was, at the same time, whisperingly 
denounced by the stipendiary cf friends of Israel," as untrustworthy. A 



88 



band of Jewish proselytes, who boldly profess their unfeigned 
love to the Redeemer ; and a vast number more are studying 
the sacred Scriptures, in order to come to the knowledge of 
that truth which others have found to be the sole remedy 
for the troubled and anxious soul. Most of our converts 
reside in and near Genda. To this they were prompted by 
the desire of enjoying the advantage of Christian inter- 
course, and also of regular religious meetings on the Sabbath 
and other occasions on the mission premises. The worship 
simply consists of reading some collects out of our Liturgy, 
and in expounding a passage of Scripture. After divine 
service, the children of believing and unbelieving Falashas 
are catechised, and then an extemporaneous prayer concludes 
these deeply interesting gatherings. Last Sunday, perhaps 
on account of the arrival of a stranger, the large circular 
hut was filled to the extreme with men, women, and children, 
and I confess, that the devout, solemn, and reverend deport- 
ment of all, made a lasting impression on my mind. The 
Abyssinian Church, in which our converts were obliged to be 
baptized, they unanimously abhor, and whenever the oppor- 

Clerical brother, who takes an engrossing interest in promoting 
Christianity amongst the Jews, called at the office of the Jews' Society, 
and asked that Mr. Stern might be sent to his Parish as deputation, for 
his next auxiliary anniversary in connection with that Association. One 
of the well-paid Secretaries replied, "The worst is that you can not believe 
a word Stern says on the platform ; as a friend, I warn you against the 
truthfulness of his statements." Well might the genuine amateur "friend 
of Israel" exclaim, "Even his brethren do not believe in him! the Secre- 
taries of the Jews' Society dear -br other ed Stern in their Intelligence, their 
Report, in the Pulpit, and on the Platform, yet they whisper distrust in all 
he says." I have learnt from members of Mr. Stern's family, that the poor 
Missionary heard of all those whisperings, which pierced his very soul ; 
hence the above allusion to the bitterness of his cup. 

Another humiliating circumstance came to my knowledge When 
His Grace, the Archbishop of Canterbury, sent for Bishop Gobat's 
quondam fac totum, to explain some complicated manoeuvres of the Bishop 
of Jerusalem, with reference to the Missionary captives in Abyssinia, the 
fac totum wrote to a Hebrew Clergyman, once a fellow-labourer of Stern's 
at Constantinople, to furnish him, in writing, with some particulars to 
Stern's prejudice and discredit, which he might show to the Primate. A 
friend of Israel of the truest stamp, writes to me, " Stern has been 
traduced as a liar and everything unworthy, in order to weaken the 
interest in influential quarters." 



89 



tunity occurs, they fearlessly avow their sentiments. Many 
of the native Christian ecclesiastics recognize in the bold 
confessions of these Jewish proselytes, the plain truths of 
the Gospel; and did they not prefer an unprofitable, 
intolerant existence, to every nobler aspiration, our efforts 
among the Falashas might, under God's blessing, ere long 
effect a reform in the Church of the Amharas. As an illus- 
tration of this, I will, en passant, advert to a recent incident. 
The Aliga, or Archdeacon of the church of Genda, was 
importuned by his subordinates to discuss certain articles of 
faith with a member of our mission. At first he was inclined 
to yield to their solicitation, but upon more mature reflection, 
instead of a challenge, he sent the following candid message : 
— " I will not argue nor dispute with you on matters of our 
respective creeds ; I know that you are right and we are 
wrong ; that you adhere to the dictates of the Gospel, and 
we to the customs of our fathers." 

•* Our work in this sin-polluted country is plain and obvious. 
Ignorance, delusion, and idolatory, may now and then be 
denounced, but the grand truth we have to proclaim, is the 
message of redeeming love, revealed in the incarnation, life 
and death of the Son of God. This has been successfully 
done in the province where our mission is located, and I have 
already engaged four zealous proselytes to carry the same 
tidings to places hitherto, on account of their remoteness s 
inaccessible to our agents. On their return from a tour, 
they will rehearse what they have done, and then continue a 
week or fortnight with their families, during which period 
they must avail themselves of the opportunity to receive 
instruction from the Missionaries, ere they set out again on 
their glorious errand. Should eligible spheres of usefulness 
offer themselves, which I do not doubt, one are two will be 
permanently located there, till men of energy and devotion 
can be found to form new stations. * * * * * 



90 



"The schools constitute another important branch of our 
labours. Till now, as you may perhaps be aware, only those 
among the Falashas and Christians, who devote themselves 
to the service of their places of worship, or the office of 
debtarah, were obliged to undertake the onerous task of 
acquiring a knowledge of the Amharic, and, if they were a 
little more ambitious, of the sacred Ethiopic. The common 
people seldom, if ever, formed an acquaintance with the 
letters of the Alphabet. They offered sacrifices, performed 
certain religious rites, enduredfrequentself-inflictedpenances, 
and, being descendants of Abraham, flattered themselves 
that they were a holy race, and the favourites of heaven. 
Our unexpected arrival in the midst of them, dispelled this 
fanciful illusion, and awakened much serious inquiry. The 
universal ignorance, however, formed a great barrier to the 
search after truth. Our offer to establish schools met the 
widely felt want. Young and old availed themselves of the 
opportunity to learn to read ; and now in places where 
recently not one could be found able to distinguish A from 
B, there are several well acquainted with the sacred volume, 
and labouring most indefatigably for the mental and spiritual 
welfare of their co-religionists. The greatest obstacle to our 
own educational efforts, is the want of pious and qualified 
teachers. Five boys, who for more than a year have enjoyed 
the benefits of a regular training under the care of Mr. 
Flad, we intend to devote to this work. Unfortunately this 
number is inadequate to the vast extent of the field, and we 
must therefore, as soon as huts can be built, add fifteen 
more. The expense of educating twenty teachers will not 
exceed fifty pounds per annum. * * * * * 

" In reading the above, the question will naturally suggest 
itself, — Is the field, thus accessible to the spiritual husband- 
man, numerically large enough to warrant an expenditure of 
life, time, money, and energies, in its cultivation ? To this 



91 



query, I give an unqualified affirmative. Compared with 
Poland, Germany, or even European Turkey, the Jewish 
population in Abyssinia is small, and very much dispersed ; 
yet no apprehension need to be entertained that we are 
toiling for an insignificant and languishing remnant of an 
exiled race. According to the estimate I carefully formed 
on my first visit, I came to the conclusion, that the Jews 
scattered over the Alpine regions of Africa, exceed six times 
the sum total of that people in the limited kingdom of Great 
Britain ; but Mr. Mad, who, with the assistance of natives, 
has endeavoured to gain the most reliable statistics, rates 
the number much higher. The provinces in which they 
reside, are Tigre, Woggera, Armatgioho, Walkeih, Tschelga, 
Dembea, and Buara. In this latter province, the vernacular 
tongue is that spoken by the Falashas, — one of the most 
striking proofs that the Jews there constitute a numerous 
and influential body. Our own labours have till now been 
almost exclusively confined to Dembea and a part of 
Tschelga; but even on this limited territory, I have been 
assured that there are more than fifty thousand Falashas. 
Thus this field, whether we consider the multitude of souls 
entrusted to our care, or the willing disposition of the people 
to listen to what we have to say, constitute a scene of intense 
and unabating interest. Difficulties and troubles may be 
looming in the horizon of our Missionary sphere ; the 
slumbering demon of intolerance may be roused to exert 
his baneful power ; a fiery furnace of persecution may test 
the faith of our converts ; still, if we persevere in prayer 
and unfeigned trust in the promises of our God, I believe 
that not only the Falashas, but the Abyssinian Church itself, 
and millions of degraded pagan Gallas, will yet ascribe their 
enfranchisement from error, corruption, and idolatry, to the 
operations and influence of our mission. 
" ( The political state of the country is just now exceedingly 



92 



critical. Conspiracies among the chiefs, and discontent 
among the people, have excited the king to a state almost 
bordering on frenzy, and pitiless acts of tyranny are daily 
perpetrated by his orders. Formerly, the despots' insatiable 
ambition and fiery passions were in some measure tempered 
by religious scruples, and a humble reverence for God's 
Word. The army and nation regarded him as a superior 
being, chosen to restore peace and prosperity to a bleeding 
and distracted empire. His moral rectitude, and the spot- 
less purity of his life, confirmed this general impression, and 
king Theodoros was the idol of his subjects, and the invul- 
nerable hero of the troops. This illusion his present course 
of life has dispelled ; and it will be his wisdom to retrieve 
past mistakes, and to avoid past errors. I have not yet seen 
the Monarch, who is at present on the confines of Godjam, 
but probably on the return of my messenger, I shall receive 
a summons to repair to the camp. Towards our work he 
has of late been very friendly, and if our fervent prayers 
for him are heard on high, he will, before long, return to 
the path of exemplary virtue, from which he has so sadly 
departed. 

" The Aboona, or Metropolitan, whom I am very anxious 
to see, is again, as on my first visit, at Magdala, on the 
outskirts of the Wollo Galla country. His governors in 
Tigre, where he has extensive possessions, accorded me the 
most friendly reception. At Gondar, I stayed a few days in 
the Archiepiscopal palace. Aboona Joseph, the confessor 
of His Grace, who was then in the capital, showed me the 
greatest hospitality. I always regarded this ecclesiastic as 
an opponent to us and our mission, but his sedulous atten- 
tion to my wants, removed the distrust which I always 
harboured towards him, The big churchman, I was told by 
Muallim Daood, a Copt in the service of the Archbishop, 
felt quite indignant that the inhabitants of Kudas Gabriel, 



93 



the Aboona's quarter, were not equally liberal in their 
hospitality towards me, and, in his ire, he ordered the 
Metropolitan chair to be removed out of the Cathedral. 
These incidents, trifling as they may appear, I regard as 
favourable symptoms of the Aboona's sentiments towards 
us, and I am persuaded that if any contingency arises, this 
dreaded Primate will extend the segis of his spiritual 
authority over our mission. I wrote to him a few days ago, 
and, if he requests it, unwilling as I may feel, I shall be 
obliged to perform the long and dangerous pilgrimage to 
Magdala." &c, &c. — Jewish Intelligence, 'November 1863. 



E. 

Pages 49, 50, 51, 58. 



The following extracts from Mr. Stern's last letter, dated 
" August 9, 1865," explain certain statements made in the 
one quoted in the lecture : — 

" Early on the morning of the 4th, intelligence reached us 
that the king was angry with Mons. Bardel, and accused him 
of being the author of the rupture between him and the 
Europeans. A young lad in the service of Mr. Flad, and 
who had picked up a tolerable knowledge of the German 
language, a little later, stealthily crept into our tent bearing 
the same tidings, with the addition that we should soon be 
freed and Mons. Bardel chained. About noon the report 



94 



received its verification, and Mons. Bar del, conducted by a 
detatchment of troops, was actually led into our tent, there 
to await his royal master's pleasure. Discussion and in- 
quiry were at their height, when a most formidable and 
imposing deputation from the king made their appearance. 
On former occasions Jacques Obey, Samuel, or an officer of 
the household, formed the medium of communication between 
the king and his white prisoners, but in the present instance, 
to give eclat to the message, greater etiquette was observed. 
Among the crowd which constituted the delegates, was our 
old acquaintance Zoudee, Jaques Obey, Madrigal (formerly 
a pupil in the Malta Protestant College) and a host of high 
functionaries and attendants. Jaques Obey, after making a 
scrutinizing survey to see that all the prisoners, in deference 
to royalty, had girded their shamas around the waist, in a 
calm and deliberate tone said, " Mons. Bardel, Janehoi (the 
king) is angry with you because you have misrepresented the 
prisoners and caused him to chain them. You have also 
spoken ill of the Negoos himself; and you have further, by 
unfounded assertions, tried to sow distrust and suspicion in 
his heart against your countrymen at Gaffat." Madrigal, 
for the benefit of all, translated every word into French, 
and the accused, without denying or admitting the charges, 
simply replied, " How, how ! " . . , . . On the 29th 
of February, the king requested me, through Samuel, to show 
him a certain passage of Scripture. Samuel was exceedingly 
affable — a symptom by which we obtained a cue to the royal 
sentiments towards us. Our speculations that matters were 
again more promising were not unfounded, for in the after- 
noon the royal favourite came back and released Rosenthal 
from his shackles, who now, together with his wife and babe, 
was permitted to enjoy the luxury of an unguarded tent ; 
whilst to us he held out the prospect of a speedy, happy 
change, from prison to liberty. I had lost all confidence in 



95 



his assertions ; nay, invariably suspected when he promised 
us freedom (a fact now incontestibly ascertained) he toiled 
to effect our destruction and death. A few weeks before 
Easter, his Majesty, one noon, requested that I should 
prove to him from the Bible, that fasting was not a divine 
injunction, nor necessary to salvation. I readily obeyed the 
mandate, and message after message was carried in rapid suc- 
cession from the white men's prison to the royal pavilion. 
Not to prolong the discussion, which on the part of 
his Majesty and court had degenerated into a challenge, 
I briefly observed, that fasting, as a help to piety and 
devotion, was in harmony with the practice of the Apostles ; 
but such fasts, I added, were different, nay, opposed to 
those enforced by the Church, and designed to effect a 
compromise between sin and good works, as was evident 
from Isaiah lviii. This chapter his Majesty applied as 
a censure on his own actions, and I might have had to 
pay dearly for my temerity, had not at the very moment 
when a loud and ominous cry re-echoed by scores of 
voices, "bring Cocab" (i. e. myself), a counter order 
of "tou" stop, arrested the dangerous command. This 
discussion, which might have sadly terminated, had not 
an invisible power restrained the ire of the King, 
created, as we were told, a variety of speculations in the 
army, and it is very likely that the anticipations of an 
abridgement of Lent would not have been disappointed, 
had not the Prophet Isaiah too unsparingly denounced 

injustice and oppression . On the 

12th of May, a day, which like one or more will never 
be obliterated from my memory, his Majesty had a 
boisterous public interview with the "Aboona" Prinate. 
Epithets, neither dignified nor apostolic, were most pro- 
fusely interchanged between the head of the State and the 
Ruler of the Church, Once I audibly heard my name, 



96 



and two of my fellow-prisoners understood that it was 
coupled with the concealment of a curtain and taking of 
notes. Like a flash of lightening, it struck me that it 
must refer to a certain morning when Captain Cameron 
and myself arranged some money matters with the Bishop, 
which malicious tongues in this country of inquisitorial 
espionage, had viciously distorted into an unlawful secret 
communication.. The altercation which was occasionally 
very loud, and then again more subdued, lasted about an 
hour; and from the deep silence which pervaded, it was 
evident that the army did not approve of the quarrel. 
His Majesty, weary with the contest, abruptly mounted 
his horse, and followed by a vast concourse dashed furi- 
ously across the plain. Conjecture was now rife among 
us about the probable issue of the dispute, in which one, 
if not more of us, were certainly involved. We were not 
long permitted to indulge in these gloomy musings; the 
tramp of feet, the drum of numerous voices and the tinkling 
of Church umbrellas, announced the approach of an ex- 
traordinary procession. Suddenly there was a rush of 
slaves through the palisaded doorway which led from the 
camping ground of royalty to our prison, and then followed 
a mass of turbaned priests, proud chieftains, and high 
state functionaries. The Primate, clad in his simple 
Egyptian garb with a black silk scarf negligently thrown 
over his head and face, led the van. There was a 
boisterous call for "Cocab" and the "Frenchush." . Pre- 
cipitately we rushed out of our tent, and in a most deferential 
attitude confronted this formidable array of Church and 
state dignitaries. The royal notary, a tall, sleek personage, 
now opened a small parcel, and taking out a portfolio that 
once belonged to me, he thrust his unwashen fingers into a 
packet of greasy papers, and took out the document that 
contained the charges, garbled from my pilfered notes, and 



97 



the letter of Mr. Rosenthal. These were then read, after 
which Samuel, in a bland, persuasive strain, more entreated 
than commanded that we should state the parties who had 
been our informants. Rosenthal, who as Samuel well knew, 
had no communication with the Bishop, in a few brief 
sentences satisfied the inquisitor. Samuel now turned his 
villanous countenance full upon me, and requested that I 
should state the sources from whence I had obtained the 
statements embodied in the books and papers found in my 
possession. Fully aware from the character of the king, 
that the examination was a serious business, I turned to 
Mons. Bar del, and enquired whether he objected if I denied 
the correctness of the translations. Mons. Bardel rejoined, 
* No, for I only read the English ; Berrow, Samuel, and the 
" debterahs," scribes, are responsible for the Amharic' 
Relieved from the apprehension of implicating any other 
human being, and particularly a fellow-prisoner, in troubles 
of no ordinary gravity, I turned to Samuel, and in unsparing 
expressions deprecated the malice of those who, without any 
provocation, had sought my destruction by attributing to me 
language not to be found in my papers. Then addressing 
the whole assembly, I said, 'What offence have I committed? 
That I said the king had pillaged certain provinces was no 
libel, for I saw it myself. That I stated a number of people 
had been executed at 1 Dubark,' the skulls scattered about 
the plain attest the fact. That I was misinformed about 
his Majesty's descent, I must blame the late Mr. Bell/ and 
the Negoos' own speech at the capture of a chief, recorded 
in the history of his accession to the throne, and at present 
in the possession of the king himself. That I was not im- 
pelled by any ill-feeling towards the Negoos, my book 
incontestibly proves ; nay, the very mistake about his origin 
was an honour in Europe, since beyond the great waters, not 
a man's glorious ancestry, but his own deeds, shed lustre 

G 



98 



around his name. ' The Bishop,' I continued, raising my 
dexter hand, ' I honour as a friend, and were he even my 
enemy, neither diversity in our religious sentiments, nor the 
dread of danger, nor the hope of favour, should make me 
swerve from the truth.' Samuel now interposed, and hypo- 
critically remarked, * We do not wish that you should utter 
a falsehood, nor does anyone feel disposed to contradict your 
assertion, that you had no design to misrepresent the origin 
of the Negoos, but there are different ideas in Europe, 
America, and Asia ; and this,' he added emphatically, as if 
anxious by a biting sarcasm, to vent his stifling rage, ' this 
you know, is Africa.' The Bishop, who during the whole of 
that time sat like an unconcerned spectator on the bare 
ground, now started up, and casting an oblique glance of 
sympathy towards his white friends, poured forth a torrent 
of abuse on the king and the whole army of sycophants who 
swarm around the throne. 

" * Guards, receive your prisoners ! ' now shouted Samuel, 
and immediately we were driven into the tent, whilst the 
Primate and his cortege retraced their steps through the 
fence by which they had entered. 

" The exciting conference acted like atonic upon my weak, 
and by sickness, enfeebled frame, and without troubling 
myself about probability, I said, in a cheerful tone to my 
fellow-prisoners, * I have hardly eluded the shafts of the 
Angel of Death, when I must prepare for foot-chains !' No 
one, I believe, except myself, had any idea that a serious 
trial was impending over us. About sunset, his Majesty 
came galloping over the plain, and bounding up to his 
pavilion'; he had not yet alighted when Mons. Bardel, who 
was standing outside the tent, hurried quickly in, exclaiming, 
4 the king is coming ! ' Bustle and confusion for a moment 
prevailed, and then all was drowned in the shout, ' Cocab, 
Frenchush ! ' The indignant and vengeance-breathing 



99 



accents of the King thrilled through my very soul like the 
knell of all my hopes. 4 Dog, Falasha, scoundrel, tell me 
the name of the man who reviled my ancestors, or I'll tear 
the secret from your " tailanya," stout heart ! " vociferated 
the enraged Theodoros. I attempted to reiterate what I 
had said to the delegates in the afternoon, but ere I could 
finish a sentence, I was blinded with buffets, whilst at the 
same time several fellows seized me by the hand and began 
to twist around my arms hard, course ropes, formed of the 
fibres of the Doloussa tree. Rosenthal, simultaneously with 
myself, experienced a similar treatment. His poor wife, 
thinking that our last moments had come, distractedly ran 
into the arms of Captain Cameron. The latter, who also 
believed that all were about to be butchered, called out to 
me, * Stern, we shall soon be in heaven ! ' This the Negoos 
interpreted into exhortation that I should not compromise 
the Prelate, and instantly Mrs. Rosenthal, under a shower 
of blows, was driven with her babe into our tent and then 
into her own, whilst the Consul and all the other prisoners, 
with the exception of Mr. Kerans, who was suffering from 
an infectious disease, were thrown on the ground and 
pinioned, 

44 Generally, criminals under torture are only tied around 
the upper parts of the arm, but the white miscreants were, 
deemed unworthy of such leniency. From the shoulder 
down to the wrists the cords were fiendishly tight, rolled 
around the unresisting limb. This being still regarded as 
insufficient, the swollen, throbbing hands were bound together 
behind the back, and then other ropes were fastened across 
the chest, and that, too, with a force that caused the 
miserable sufferers to agonize for breath. Writhing and 
quivering in every nerve, we lay in contortious heaving s on 
the hard, bare ground. Some prayed — others groaned — 
there, one in excrutiating torments, capered about; there 

Gr 2 



100 



another in desperate frenzy, knocked his reclining head on a 
loose stone, as if determined to end by snicide his career of 
snrTering. His Majesty immediately on the application of 
the ropes, quitted the spot and repaired to his tent. Samuel, 
his head concealed under a black hood, every few minutes 
made his appearance and enquired whether I would confess, 
and on not receiving a satisfactory reply, whispered to the 
guards. f give him another rope round the chest.' Three 
times he repeated his visits, and three times a couple of 
soldiers jumped on me. and with ardent delight, as if they felt 
pleasure in torturing a white man. executed the royal behest. 
To contract the dry ropes the black fiends now and then 
poured a profusion of cold water down our insensible backs. 
' Speak,' once more repeated the munaed royal messenger, a 
command which Captain Cameron seconded by shouting. 
* Stern, Stern, say what you know ! ' 

" The agonizing torture had now lasted about three- 
quarters of an hour, and still there was no sign that the 
tyrant would relent in his cruelty. Physically and mentally 
prostrated, the hand of faith, in the birth hours of eternity, 
held confidingly on the eternal rock, and prayerfully sighed 
for release from these earthly pangs and woes. The ZNeg::s 
probably suspecting that we should succumb beneath a pro- 
tracted torture, and so elude the clutches of further revenge, 
now ordered the ropes to be removed. Promptly a score of 
blacks were bending over us and unfastening the cords. 
This process caused excruciating pains, for the ropes re- 
bounding from the stin marble limbs, tore away skin and 
flesh in broad gory shreds. 

A harrassing and anxious night was followed by a cheerless 
and desponding morning. Nervously we anticipated some 
new harrowing message from the king, but to our delight he 
rode out, and the forenoon wore away in silence and stoical 



101 



apathy. Towards noon the chief of our guards came into 
our prison, and after some desultory remarks urged me to 
satisfy his Majesty. 'Tell those who sent you,' I returned, 
' That I have spoken the truth, and if the king does not 
believe me, I can swear on this book, the Bible, which I 
raised aloft with my palsied and swollen hand — that the 
Bishop never spoke to me on the topic he wishes me to 
charge upon him.' ' Well,' was the laconic retort, ' you will 
all get ropes again, and that, too, much severer than last 
night.' Uncertain about our fate, moments, minutes, and 
hours passed away in torturing suspense. Near evening 
Samuel, that messenger of evil, again obtruded his hated 
person upon us. He crouched down near Captain Cameron, 
and with the utmost assiduity, tended his wounds. His 
affability and condescension emboldened me to ask him why 
the Negoos, after granting me a free pardon, again revived 
the old affair. A withering scowl gathered over his brow at 
these words, and as if panting for breath he glared at me a 
few seconds, and then poured forth a volley of frightful 
abuse. 'Dog,' 'Falasha,' 'rascal,' &c, 'how dare you criticize 
the king's actions, and obstinately defy his authority ? Look 
here and behold the sufferings you have inflicted on your 
brethren. This is poor Mons. Bardel, and do you know who 
lies here ? pointing to the Consul. This is Victoria ! ' 
Shattered and prostrate as I was, my whole frame shook 
and trembled at this unmerited rebuke. Samuel I think 
noticed this, and bending down to me, whispered confi- 
dentially, ' Come out, I want to speak to you.' Once in the 
open air, the raging courtier subsided into the smooth 
flattering knave. Placing his hand affectionately on my 
aching shoulder, he said, ' Don't think that I am angry with 
you ; on the contrary, I admire you ; but what possesses you 
that for the sake of the Bishop, who is neither your country- 
man nor of your belief, you incur the wrath of the king, and 



102 



expose your person to suffering. He is my Aboona (he 
forgot that he had often told me he was a Protestant) but 
you are my friend ; and I don't care what happens to him, 
if you only, (whose money I have eaten,) by obliging the 
Negoos, win honour and favors.' I shook my head, and the 
foiled inquisitor hastened away muttering no very charitable 
benison on my devoted head. The shades of night had by 
this time gathered dark and thick around us. The guards 
took their station, and the white prisoners, after committing 
themselves to the guardian care of a Divine Protector, com- 
posed themselves to uneasy slumbers. The sudden whisper 
of voices and the sound of approaching steps, made us start 
from our leather skins. ' Cocab ! ' 'Rosenthal ! ' 'Makerer ! ' 
roared several voices at once. Leaping mechanically on our 
feet, we were in an instant out of the tent. Several dark 
figures in a trice encompassed me, and with ruthless fury 
dashed their horny hands in my eyes and face. Blow after 
blow in quick succession descended stunningly upon me, 
whilst at the same time the ropes were rapidly rolled around 
my wounded and lacerated arms. * Tie his legs, too, if he 
does not confess,' rung in deep but distinct accents from the 
royal pavilion, and was re-echoed from three other lungs 
who stood in measured distances to send back my reply. 
My eyes, dimmed by buffets, started almost out of their 
sockets, my veins began to swell, my nerves throbbed as if 
they would burst, and my heart, compressed by the inhuman 
tightness of the ropes, almost stopped its pulsations. 
Despairingly I raised my inflamed eyes towards heaven, and 
prayed that the bitter cup might either pass away from me, 
or if I was to drain it to the dregs, that the agony might 
not be protracted. My head now became _ dizzy, the cold 
perspiration coursed down my quivering frame, I felt con- 
fused, giddy, and mad. ' Samuel, Samuel ! ' I shrieked in 
phrenzied agony ; ' What do you want, what do you want? ' 



103 



' Tell the Negoos all you have been told by the Aboona,' was 
his calm response. ' Oh ! my God ! my God ! ' I mentally 
ejaculated, have I still longer to endure this wasting martyr- 
dom; and seized by a fit of delirium, I vociferated in a 
hoarse, suffocating voice, ' Yes, the Aboona has often told 
me that the king was more dreaded, and possessed more 
power than any of the former sovereigns of Ethiopia ; but 
that his ambition and cruelty ruined and depopulated the 
country.' ' Untie the ropes,' reverberated far above the 
cooling breeze, as it swept in refreshing gusts over the torn 
and bleeding limbs of the sufferer ; ' untie the ropes and ask 
him if he is not a merchant of insects.' I hesitated to 
affirm this palpable falsehood, but Samuel with clenched 
teeth muttered, ' Dog, do you want a fresh trial of the 
ropes.' Again roared in succession the invisible voice, ac- 
companied by a slap in my face from the chief jailor, ask 
him whether the ladies in England do not eat rats and mice.' 
Promptly my interrogater, who evidently now pitied me, 
responded ' yes ! ' Ask him whether the Queen of England 
does not sell thread, needles and tobacco at Massowah ? " 



F. 

Pages 59, 60, 63. 



Lest it should be thought that the Lecturer discoursed at 
random, he appends here the very dispatch in all its integrity, 
with the simple addition of numbering its paragraphs, as it 
appeared in the London Gazette, on October 31, 1865. 

" Foreign Office, October 5, 1865. 
1. " Sir, — Although it is too late to give you any direc- 



104 



tions for the guidance of Mr Rassam beyond those which I 
have already transmitted by telegraph, it may be useful, in 
order to prevent misconceptions, that I should enable you to 
state upon any proper occasion what has been and is the 
policy of the British Government regarding Abyssinia. 

2. " It should be borne in mind that Abyssinia is com- 
posed of several distinct provinces, some of which are 
separated from each other by lofty mountains and by rivers 
which are impassable during a portion of the year. 

3. " Hence these different provinces have often been ruled 
by separate princes or chiefs (Dedjatch), independent of 
each other. 

4. "In 1841, Captain Harris was sent from Bombay to 
the king of Shoa, with whom he concluded a treaty of 
friendship and commerce, on the 16th November, 1841. 

5. "In the same year, the ruler of Tigre, Ras Oobeay, or 
Ubie, called Ras of Abyssinia, sent Mr. Coffin, an English 
traveller, with a letter and presents for her Majesty. 

6. " On Mr. Coffin's arrival at Cario, he was informed, 
through Colonel Barnett, in December, 1841, by direction of 
Lord Aberdeen, that he need not proceed further on his 
journey to England, and that he might deliver to Colonel 
Barnett any letter with which he was charged. 

7. " Mr. Coffin accordingly delivered the letter from Ras 
Ubie (together with presents) to Colonel Barnett, who sent 
the letter to England, but it cannot be ascertained whether 
the presents were also sent, the only allusion to them being 
found in a dispatch from Colonel Barnett, dated Sept. 19, 
1841, in which he says they were still with Mr. Coffin, at 
Cario. 

8. " No reply, however, was returned to this letter, and 
Ras Ubie was thereupon so angry, that he threatened violence 
to Mr. Coffin for not bringing him a return present from 
the Queen. 



105 



9. "In January, 1848, Lord Palmerston, with a view to 
establish commercial relations with Abyssinia, appointed 
Mr. Plowden, Consul for that country, and directed him to 
reside at Massowah. 

10. " Mr. Plowden was informed, in his letter of appoint- 
ment, that he was sent to Massowah for the protection of 
British trade with Abyssinia and the countries adjacent 
thereto. 

11. " Consul Plowden proceeded to Gondar and concluded 
a treaty of friendship and commerce with Has Ali, on the 
2nd November, 1849. 

12. "By this treaty it was provided, that his Majesty of 
Abyssinia would receive an Ambassador from her Britannic 
Majesty, and ' her Britannic Majesty would, in the same 
manner, receive and protect any Ambassador, Envoy, or 
Consul, whom his Majesty of Abyssinia, or his successors, 
might see fit to appoint.' 

13. "But in 1854, Has Ali was overthrown by one of his 
sons-in-law, who induced the Coptic Bishop to crown him 
Emperor of Abyssinia.* This person was the present Emperor 
Theodoros, who, so far from insisting on the observance of 
the treaty of 1849, refused altogether to recognize that 
treaty. 

14. " Consul Plowden was told by the British Government 
in 1857, that the Emperor was bound in good faith to 
recognize that treaty, and that if he objected to any of its 
provisions he should propose modifications. 

15. " But from the triumph of the Emperor Theodoros in 
1856, to the present day, the treaty has been a dead letter. 

*Eari Russell is somewhat inaccurate here. The present Emperor of 
Abyssinia did not assume imperial dignity after he had defeated his 
father-in-law, or rather his base and vile mother-in-law, (see pp. 30, 31), 
in whose hands her weak imbecile son, Has Ali, was a mere puppet. But 
he got himself crowned Emperor after he had defeated Oobey, the Ras of 
Tigre, and that was on the 12th February, 1856. and not in 1854. (See 
PP. 33, 34.) 1 



106 



16. 44 It may be argued that the British Government ought 
to have insisted on the validity of the treaty on the one 
hand, and to have protected the Emperor of Abyssinia from 
the Turks on the other. 

17. 44 But considering the short tenure of power in the 
Abyssinian kings, whatever be their title, the difficulty of 
reaching with a regular British force their seats of Empire > 
the little value of a victory gained at Gondar and Shoa, the 
risk of failure and the certainty of expense, it has seemed 
to the British government a preferable course to withdraw, 
as much as possible, from Abyssinian engagements, Abys- 
sinian alliances, and British interference in Abyssinia. 

18. 44 This course, however, has not been taken without 
giving rise to groundless reproaches, many unfounded 
allegations, and some embarrassing and painful occurrences. 

Of the former class is the following bold assertion, 
namely : — 

19. 44 'There is reason for believing that the Emperor 
Theodoros holds Captain Cameron as a hostage for the re- 
cognition by England, already made in 1849, of the inde- 
pendence of Abyssinia, for the suppression of Egyptian 
aggressions along the frontier, and for the restitution of the 
Church and Convent at Jerusalem, torn from him and his 
people by the Copts, Armenians, and Turks.' 

20. "Now with respect to the recognition of the indepen- 
dence of Abyssinia in 1849, it has been seen that it was 
England that asked for the recognition of the treaty of 
1849, and the Emperor Theodoros who refused it. But the 
recognition of the independence of Abyssinia has never been 
withdrawn by England. 

21. 44 As to the suppession of Egyptian aggressions along 
the frontier, England has from time to time used her influence 
to prevent such aggressions, but will not consent to guarantee 
the integrity of the Abyssinian territory. 



107 



22. " Such a guarantee would be, in the opinion of her 
Majesty's government, an unwise engagement — impracticable 
in execution. 

23. "The restitution of the Church and Convent at 
J erusalem is a matter which requires some further explana- 
tion. 

24. " Any one who follows with attention the proceedings 
of the Turkish government in the various provinces under 
its direct rule, must be aware that the Christian sects, sub- 
jects of the Ottoman Porte, frequently persecute one another, 
and the Sultan is often appealed to rescue individuals 
and communities from the maltreatment or cruelty of their 
fellow-christians. 

25. " Her Majesty's ambassador at the Sublime Porte 
uses his good offices on such occasions, and generally with 
success. 

26. " In July, 1852, Lord Malmesbury was appealed to by 
Bishop Gobat, at Jerusalem, in behalf of Ras Ali and 
Dedjatch Oubee, who had adopted at a Meeting at Gondar 
a resolution to the effect :-— 

27. " 'That her Majesty should be requested to authorise 
you (the bishop) to protect and superintend their country- 
men visiting or residing in Jerusalem, and to authorise the 
British agent residing in Jerusalem to lend you (the bishop) 
his assistance for that purpose when required.' Lord 
Malmesbury's answer to this request was very clear and 
decisive. 

28. " ' 1 have to state to you in reply, that her Majesty's 
government cannot undertake to protect officially the natives 
of Abyssinia who may chance to be resident in the territory 
of the Sublime Porte. But her Majesty's Consul at Jeru- 
salem will be instructed to use his good offices for them, in 
case of need, as members of a Christian Church in spiritual 
communion with the established Church in this country.' 



108 



29. « You will see that the Earl of Malmesbury distinctly 
refused ' to protect officially the natives of Abyssinia who 
may chance to be residing in the territory of the Sublime 
Porte.' 

30. "You will observe also that the good offices to be 
employed in their favour were intended for the benefit of 
those ' who might chance to be residing in the territory of 
the Sublime Porte.' Thus a distinction was made between 
those who might resort occasionally or casually to Jerusalem 
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Abyssinian origin, who 
might be accounted Turkish subjects. 

31. " Thus limited, both as to the extent of the protection 
to be afforded and as to the classes of persons on whose 
behalf good offices were to be exercised, the instruction of 
the Earl of Malmesbury must be allowed to have been proper 
and judicious. Accordingly I referred Consul Finn, on 
May 29, 1862, to those instructions of 1852, observing, 

32. " 'I have nothing to add to those instructions, except 
to enjoin you to act upon them with caution and prudence.' 
Those instructions remain still in force.* 

i 

* "A correspondent points out a discrepancy in Lord Eussell's remarks 
on the question of the Abyssians in Jerusalem, contained in his last des- 
patch. Earl Eussell states in one place, that the recognition of the inde- 
pendence of Abyssinia (acknowledged by the treaty of 1849), has never 
been withdrawn; and in another place he speaks of the Abyssinians in 
Jerusalem as Turkish subjects. 'This,' says our correspondent, 'is the 
whole point in dispute.' The Turkish Government assert that Abyssinia 
has been conquered by them, and claim as their subjects every Abyssinian, 
whether in Jerusalem or out of it. The Abyssinians deny this, and assert 
their independence, and the right of their countrymen residing in Jeru- 
salem to be regarded as foreigners, living their of their own free will and 
entitled to protection from any foreign Consul of their own choosing. If 
they had a Consul of their own, he would, of course, be answerable for 
their safety; as they have none, they put themselves under the temporary 
protection of the English representative, relying upon Lord Malmsbury's 
promise of his good offices in their behalf. The Abyssinians of Jerusalem 
are all of one class, — pilgrims to the holy places, — and no distinction can 
be drawn between one set and another. It appears, however, that 
Consul Moore has denied them even such aid as might have been afforded 
by his good offices, and insisted upon regarding them as Turkish subjects. 
The Abyssinians were thus robbed of all they possessed in Jerusalem, and 



109 



33. " Coming now to the imprisonment of Consul Cameron, 
it appears from the papers presented to Parliament that 
after he had conveyed my letter, written by order of the 
Queen, and some few presents to the king of Abyssinia, he 
went to the country of Bogos, where he employed himself in 
reconciling some rival chiefs, sending on the Emperor's 
letter to the Queen to Massowah by the Abyssinian 
messenger. 

34. "It appears, further, that the chief cause of the 
Emperor's anger with Consul Cameron was this journey to 
Bogos, coupled with the Emperor's suspicion that Consul 
Cameron had intrigued to set the Turks and Egyptians of 
the frontier against him, and aggravated in some degree by 
the return of Consul Cameron to Gondar without any answer 
to the Emperor's letter to the Queen. 

35. " It appears from kingTheodoros' letter to Mr. Rassam, 
sent home by that gentleman in his letter of the 5th of 
September, that the king alleges that Captain Cameron 
e abused and denounced him as a murderer,' in consequence 
of the vengeance which he took on the persons who killed 
Consul Plowden and Mr. Bell, and that when he had treated 
him well and asked him to make him (the king) a friend of 
the Queen, Captain Cameron ' went and stayed some time 
with the Turks, and returned to me (the king) ; ' and further, 
that when the king spoke to Captain Cameron about the 
letter sent by him to the Queen, he said he had not received 
any intelligence concerning it. 

36. " There is no reason to suppose that Consul Cameron 
incited the Egyptian forces on the frontier to commit aggres- 
sions on the territory of Abyssinia. It is far more probable 
that the enemies of the British name in Abyssinia should 

driven from the city. This course of action on the part of Consul Moore, 
was in direct opposition to the conduct of his predecessor, Mr. Finn, and 
is notoriously attributed in Jerusalem to Turkish influence." — Pall Mall 
Gazette. 



110 



have infused unjust suspicions into the mind of the Emperor. 
But certainly Captain Cameron, in going to Bogos, acted 
without orders, and incurred the displeasure of his own 
government. 

37. " It is now to be hoped that Mr. Rassam's explanation 
will procure for Captain Cameron permission to leave Abys- 
sinia. He will be employed hereafter in a different part of 
the world, and will never have occasion to return to 
Abyssinia. 

38. " I have thus explained to you that the policy of the 
British government has been founded entirely on the desire 
to promote trade and intercourse with Abyssinia. 

39. " I am well aware that there are persons who wish her 
Majesty's government to interfere in behalf of Abyssinia, 
as a Christian country against Turkey and Egypt, as Ma- 
homedan countries. 

40. "But this policy has never been adopted by the 
British government, and, I trust, never will be. 

41. "If we were to make ourselves the protectors of the 
Emperor Theodoros against the Sultan and his Viceroy of 
Egypt, we should become responsible for his acts, and be 
entangled in his quarrels with all his neighbours and 
rivals. 

42. " The obligations of the British government are 
various enough, and heavy enough, without undertaking so 
costly, hazardous, and unprofitable a protectorate. 

"I am, &c, 
(Signed) " Russell." 

When the foregoing dispatch was published, every daily 
Journal made such comments upon it, as accorded with the 
peculiar politics which their leaders espoused. Dr. Beke felt 
aggrieved at the remarks in the Times newspaper, and wrote 
to the 'Editor, a rejoinder ; but whether from want of space, 



Ill 



or lack of something else, the Doctor's letter was left un- 
noticed. I am permitted to subjoin it here. 

li To the Editor of the Times. 

" Sir, — Notwithstanding the many urgent claims on my 
time and attention at this the eve of my departure for 
Abyssinia, I feel myself called on, before quitting England, 
to make a few remarks on Earl Russell's dispatch to Colonel 
Stanton, her Majesty's Agent and Consul General in Egypt, 
copied in your impression of the 1st inst. from the London 
Gazette of the previous evening. I need no apology for 
doing so, because (as you justly observe) that dispatch is in 
effect a reply to my letter inserted in your journal on the 
14th September. 

** From the tenour of Earl Russell's dispatch, persons 
unacquainted with the circumstances might be led to suppose 
that Consul Cameron was the only captive, and that he had 
been imprisoned by the king, principally if not entirely, for 
having * abused and denounced him as a murderer.' The 
fact is however that not only Consul Cameron, but all British 
subjects in Abyssinia, and all persons of other nations con- 
nected with British Missionary Societies— men, women, and 
children, being seventeen souls in all — are ' State-prisoners, 
and will probably remain such until the political differences 
between England and the king of Abyssinia come to a 
satisfactory conclusion.' I quote these words from Mr. 
Steiger's letter dated Gaffat, December, 1864, referred to in 
my communication above-mentioned. 

" As a full list of these State-prisoners has never yet been 
laid before the public, I will now give it as follows : 

" At Magdala. Consul Cameron, Messrs. Stern, Rosenthal, 
Kerans, McKilnie, Makerer and Pietro ; all in chains, Stern 
and Rosenthal since September, 1863, and the rest since 
January, 1864. Mrs. Rosenthal (ne$ Young) and child, not 
in chains. 



112 



"At Gqffat. Messrs. Flad. Steiger, Brandeis, Schiller, 
and another whose name I do not know, Mrs. Flad and two 
children. None of these are in chains or compelled to work ; 
but as is stated in Mr. Steiger's letters, the members of the 
Scottish Mission were for a time ' bound in chains.' 

" As regards several of these persons — young Mr. Kerans 
for instance (a son of Dr. Kerans, of Atrascragh, county 
Galway) and his servant McKilnie, as also the Scottish 
Missionaries — there is not the slightest ground for imagining 
them to have offended the king in any manner ; and even 
Consul Cameron has more than once stated in communica- 
tions to his family, that the king is ' a good fellow,' and has 
no complaint whatever against him personally. 

" If then the fact be as asserted by Earl Russell (and it 
is not to be questioned) that the letter from the king to Mr. 
Rassani, sent home by that gentleman in his letter of Sep- 
tember 5th, contains the allegation that Captain Cameron 
was imprisoned by the king because he had abused and 
denounced him as a murderer, it follows that Consul 
Cameron has stated either a direct falsehood (which those 
who know him could not believe) ; or else the letter said to 
have been sent by the king — which it must be borne in mind, 
bears neither his signature nor his seal — is not authentic. 
There is the greater reason for doubting the genuineness of 
that letter ; because the explanation of the false telegram, 
repeated in the Times of October 14th by me, which was to 
the effect that Captain Cameron's chains had been taken off 
in the presence of Mr. Rassain's messengers merely to be 
replaced as soon as their backs were turned — would appear 
to be in like manner a fabrication. For, in the letters to the 
respective families of Mr. Stern, Mr. and Mrs. Rosenthal, 
Mr. Kerans, and even Consul Cameron himself, there is not 
a single word to countenance the idea of an event which, had 
it really occurred, was of so extraordinary a nature and such 



113 



a change in the dreary monotony of their prison life, that it 
could not have failed to be noticed by some one or other of 
them. 

"In some of those letters, written about the 13th or 14th 
of July last, the opinion was expressed, that if Mr. Rassam 
came up at once to the king, all might be well ; but that if 
he delayed his arrival, the white prisoners ran the risk of 
suffering the death inflicted on their Galla companions in 
captivity. This frightful intelligence, coupled with the delay 
which had taken place in Mr. Rassam's journey — for it was 
only on October 5th that he left Aden for Massowah, whence 
he was to go round to Gondar, by the way of Bogos, Taka, 
and Kalabat — superadded to the charges so wrongly brought 
against poor Consul Cameron, has, I fear, operated fatally 
on his aged mother. I have now before me a letter from 
his daughter, dated October 31st, in which she writes, 1 1 
regret to say my mother is dangerously ill. The constant 
anxiety and sorrow which my poor brother's long captivity 
has caused, have at last proved too much for her, and we 
have scarcely any hope of her recovery.' 

" Into the question of the Abyssinian Convent at Jeru- 
salem, and the Abyssinian pilgrims, I will not enter further 
than to remark, that Earl Russell merely alluded to his 
having referred Consul Finn, on May 22nd, 1862, to the 
Earl of Malmesbury's instructions of 1852 ; whereas the 
occurrences alluded to by Mr. Steiger were of later date, 
when the Consul at Jerusalem was Mr. Noel Moore, whose 
conduct it was that ' surprised and irritated the king the 
more, as Mr. Finn, the former English Consul, had previously 
assured him that he was commissioned by his government to 
protect the Abyssinians.' 

"The next subject that has to be noticed in Consul 
Cameron's visit to Bogos is that in which Earl Russell says 
he certainly acted without orders, and incurred the dis- 

H 



114 



pleasure of his own government ? But that 'displeasure was 
not for having ' incited the Egyptian forces on the frontier 
to commit aggressions on the territory of Abyssinia,' but 
directly the reverse. For the ground of complaint of the 
government of Ismail Pasha against him was that he had 
incited the Abyssinians to commit aggressions on what the 
Egyptians choose to call their territory, although the Great 
Powers of Europe had in 1854 declared that it was not so. 

" This fact, as I have already shown in my phamplet the 
British Captives in Abyssinia, was at the time notorious in 
Egypt, and it is not to be gainsaid. Among the papers 
moved for by Lord Chelmsford in the last Session of Parlia- 
ment, was a ' copy of the Report made from Bogos in, or 
about, March, 1863, and of the Orders in consequence of 
such Report sent to him by the Consul General in Egypt or 
from the Foreign Office.' To this no return was made by 
government. But had those documents been produced they 
would have shown that Consul Cameron's conduct on that 
occasion was strictly in accordance with the precedent of his 
predecessor Consul Plowden, in 1854 ; and that although he 
may nevertheless have incurred the displeasure of his own 
government, his conduct could not but have been most 
gratifying to the Emperor Theodoros, and the Abyssinians in 
whose interest he acted. 

*• From the summary manner in which the treaty of 1849 
and the subsequent proceedings are alluded to by Earl 
Russell, it might be imagined that nothing whatever occurred 
after Consul Plowden had been told by the British govern- 
ment in 1857, that the Emperor was bound in good faith to 
recognize that treaty, and that if he objected to any of its 
provisions he should propose modifications. But this is 
prcisely what the Emperor did. Negotiations between him 
the British government were carried on through Consul 
Plowden, until the latter's death, in 1860. The matter was 



115 



then taken up by Mr. Bell, who, when Mr. Stern was leaving 
Abyssinia after his first visit to that country, told him he 
would soon meet him again in London, as he was on the 
point of accompanying an Abyssinian Embassy to England, 
the expense of which was to be defrayed by the British 
nation. This is what is alluded to by Mr. Purday (Mr. 
Stern's father-in-law) in the Pall Mall Gazette of July 5th 
last : — * It may come out that Consul Cameron had express 
instructions not only to encourage the king to send an 
Embassy to England, but that the English government 
offered to pay the expenses of that Embassy.' 

" Before Mr. Stern set out on his second visit to Abyssinia, 
I heard that he was detained in England till Consul Cameron 
should arrive from the Black Sea, in order that they might 
discuss together the subject of the contemplated Embassy 
from Abyssinia ; and I was also told that the sum of £16000 
for the expenses of the same had been included in the 
estimates. 

" With these facts before us, we may now understand the 
meaning of the passage quoted by Mr. Layard (as reported 
in the Times of July 1st) from Consul Cameron's dispatch, 
written on his first arrival in Abyssinia and before he had 
seen the king :' — 4 1 wrote immediately (to the king), stating 
that I was deputed to present him with certain gifts and a 
letter of introduction; also to discuss with him regarding 
the future. That when Mr. Plowden was killed, there were 
two points under discussion -1. a Treaty; 2. the sending 
an Embassy to England. I offered to take these up where 
■ Mr. Plowden had left them.' " 

Had I time I should have liked to follow Consul Cameron's 
subsequent proceedings, as they relate to matters of great 
importance. Perhaps at some future period I shall have an 
opportunity of returning to the subject. At all events I 
trust I have said sufficient to prove the substantial correct- 

H 2 



116 



ness of the several statements made in my communication of 
September 14th. 

"I only regret that I should have been under the necessity 
of making these remarks ; but it was impossible for me to 
leave England with the accusation hanging over my head of 
having made groundless reproaches and unfounded allega- 
tions. 

" In all that I have ever done or written as well as in the 
journey I am now undertaking, nothing has been further 
from my intention than to counteract the operations of her 
Majesty's government or their Agents, or in any manner to 
interfere with them. I am now proceeding to Abyssinia as 
a private traveller, not connected with or supported by the 
Government or by any of the Missionary Societies to which 
the captive Missionaries belong; my object being to suppli- 
cate the Emperor for mercy in the names of the relatives of 
the wretched prisoners ; and I cannot but entertain a deeply 
rooted conviction that this my independent attempt to obtain 
their release by a process entirely different from that hitherto 
employed, has a reasonable prospect of success ; and when 
it is considered that up to the present moment all that has 
been attempted diplomatically has proved fruitless, it may 
at least be that my undertaking will have the beneficial 
effect of aiding Mr. Rassam in bringing his labours to a 
satisfactory conclusion. 

"I am, Sir, 

41 Your very obedient Servant, 

" Charles Beee;" 

" Eeksbourne, 

"Novcmher 3rd, 1865. 
"P.S. — Since writing the above I have received the sad 
intelligence that Consul Cameron's mother breathed her 
last yesterday morning." 



117 



The reader has now before him — though in fragmentary 
and incoherent style — a comprehensive, an unvarnished, a 
disinterested and impartial statement of all the circumstances 
connected with the melancholy incarceration of the British 
captives in Abyssinia, and the causes of their protracted 
detention. Let us trust that either Mr. Rassam, or Dr. Beke, 
or both together, may be instrumental in bringing our Consul 
and our Missionaries safe, if not sound, back again to 
England; and that both the Church and the State will 
show becoming sympathy for the sufferings of their respec- 
tive servants- Should an avoidance of the Jerusalem 
Bishopric occur, it is earnestly to be hoped that Mr. Stern 
may live to accept the offer of the honourable post, as suc- 
cessor to the late Bishop Alexander. It would be but a 
just recognition, on the part of the Church at home, of that 
faithful Missionary's services in Abyssinia, for the cause 
of his Great Master in Heaven, 



WORKS PUBLISHED BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 



I. THE HAIDAD ; a Harvest Thanksgiven Sermon. With 
Preface and Appendices intended for careful perusal. 

"I beg to thank you for your learned sermon, entitled 'Haidad.' 
Your exposition of that word is a very interesting one, and it seems 
to have the marks of probability, and to open out a view of joyful 
religious associations, especially in connexion with Harvest Thanks- 
giving." — Extract from a Letter of the Venerable Archdeacon Wordsworth. 

"A learned Harvest Sermon." — The Guardian. 

"In the discourse will be found much matter of interest to those 
who wish to gain an insight into that abstruse subject, the metrical, 
or poetical anatomy of the Psalms in the original Hebrew." — The 
Musical Standard. 

II. THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY : being an Exposition, in 
Four Sermons, on Revelation i. 7, xxii. 20. Preached on the Mornings 
of the Sundays in Advent, 1863. "With Appendices. 

" The author displays, with some power, the sublime incidents of the 
second coming of our Lord." — Church Reviev:. 

"We shall always be glad to receive from his pen Expositions of 
Holy Writ, at once so full of learning, and so free from extravagances 
as those contained in the work before us." — Clerical Journal. 

III. ENGLAND'S CROWN OF REJOICING.— A Sermon 
preached on the Sunday before the Marriage of the Prince of Wales. 
With an Appendix : being a Translation of the Hebrew Poem presented 
to the late Prince Consort at the Baptism of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. 

"This is a sermon extremely appropriate to the occasion on which 
it was preached, from a text of singular beauty and significance." — 
Literary Churchman. 

IV. THE TRUE LIGHT : a Farewell Sermon preached on 
the evening of St. Bartholomew's Day, in the Parish Church of Wyton. 
Hunts, on retiring from the spiritual charge of the Parish. 

" We do not know when we have heard anyone speak out more 
plainly on the sin and danger of schism than does Dr. Margoliouth. 
We thank him for giving the weight of his name to the pro- 
test against schism on the part of the clergy." — Clerical Journal. 

V. THE END OF LA"W: Two Sermons, preached at St. 
Edmund the King's Church, Lombard Street. To which is added A 
LETTER, with numerous Notes, to the Rev. William J. C. Lindsay, 
B.A,. Rector of Llanvaches, Monmouthshire; being a preliminary 
Examination of the "Essays and Reviews." Rivixgtons. 

" A valuable work." — Bishop of Rochester. 

" A learned and useful work- -profitable to the Church at the present 
time." — Rev. Dr. M ( Caul. 

"A most well-timed and important work, calculated to do immediate 
good. Interesting and zweckmassig." — Rev. Dr. Jelf. 



WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 



t{ Your strictures on the c Essays and Reviews ' are appropriate and 
well-timed." — Rev. Thomas Hartwell Borne. 

<l No one can peruse a single page of this admirable work without 

being struck at once by its profundity as well as its clearness 

The style is easy, lucid, and pleasant to read, even when expounding 
matters which are usually served up as pieces de resistance for the 
delectation of savans alone." — Weekly Messenger. 

VI THE GOSPEL and its MISSION. Second Edition. 
"It is an admirable sermon. — Rev. Dr. Marsh. 

VII. SACKED MINSTBELSY. A Lecture on Biblical and 
Post-Biblical Hebrew Music. — Second Edition. 

"A great deal of interesting matter is given in these pages. The 
Jewish airs will please the lovers of Music." — Clerical Journal. 

" It contains much information on a subject of which most men 
know nothing." — Guardian. 

'•'This is a most interesting and able lecture We are not 

surprised that many Clergymen have found materials in this work for 
sermons and discourses on choral societies, and other subjects connected 
with the music of the sanctuary." — Literary Churchman. 

VEIL THE QUARREL of GOD'S COVENANT. A Fast-Day 
sermon. 

IX. THE LORD'S AMHXTED. A Coronation Sermon, 
preached in the British Chapel at Moscow, on the Sunday before the 
enthronement of Alexander II. Booth. 

"May claim attention as a historical document, as well as a pulpit 
Discourse ' — L iterary Gazette. 

X. THE PEXITEXTIAL HYMX of JUDAH and ISRAEL 
after the SPIRIT : an Exposition of Isaiah liii. Second Edition. Long- 
man and Co. 

Extract from a letter to the Author, by the late Bishop of Kildare : — 
" My dear Margoliouth, — I return the two last of a series of Sermons, 

which it would be unjust to withhold from the public at large,'* &c. 
'•Able, learned, and most profitable throughout; to the Scholar it 

will be most interesting." — Presbyterian Review. 

" The Author's whole aim is to demonstrate its vital importance, 

for which purpose he takes it verse by verse, and comments upon each 

expression critically, historically, polemically, and practically ..... 

We feel that we are quite safe in commending these Lectures to the 

attentive perusal of all who are interested in this most wonderful 

prophecy." — English Review. 

XL GEXTJIXE REPEXTAXCE, and its EEEECTS. An 
Exposition of the Fourteenth Chapter of Hosea. Loxgmax & Co. 

"You have selected a very interesting portion of Scripture, and one 
peculiarly suited to our moral and political state ; and I cannot doubt 
of the effect that your addresses will have upon our hearts." — One of 
the Last Letters of the late Chancellor Raikes, of Chester, to the Author. 

" The discourses are earnest and practical. — The Literary Gazette 

XII. THE APOSTOLIC TRIPLE BEXEDICTIOX. A 

Farewell Sermon, preached at St. Bartholomew's Church, Salford. 

XIII. HOLLERITH'S SOLEMN VOICE. A Sermon 

preached in St. Bartholomew's Church, Salford, in behalf of the 
Sufferers from the calamitous visitation of Holmfirth. 



WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 



XIV. THE HISTORY of the JEWS in GREAT BRITAIN. 
In Three Vols. Post 8vo. 

" The minute and patient research here bestowed on the History of 
the Jews in England, has brought to light a mass of curious infor- 
mation, of which few have any idea. The work is one of real value, 
in more ways than one ; especially as containing fragments of History 
almost inaccessible." — Presbyterian Review. 

" These volumes are invested with great historical value and im- 
portance," — Caledonian Mercury. 

"A very complete and interesting History of the Jews in England. 
The Author writes with candour and impartiality." — Weekly Chronicle. 

XV. A PILGRIMAGE to the LAND of MY FATHERS. 
Two Vols. 8vo. With numerous Illustrations. 

"The Letters which he (Dr. M. M.) addressed to me were replete 
with interesting information. The friends to whom I communicated 
them, read them with as much pleasure as I had done; and I believe 
him not only to be singularly qualified to draw out and discover what 
is curious in the countries that he visited, but likewise very happy 
in his manner of describing them." — The Worshipful and Rev. Chancellor 
Railces. 

" So ends our review of a work which has entertained us with a 
variety of topics, treated in an original way." — Literary Gazette. 

" The work abounds with curious details concerning the condition 
and opinions of the Jewish populations of the various countries in 
Europe, Asia, and Africa, which the Author visited. Some of the 
disclosures, too, are as astounding and romantic as any thing in Mr. 
Disraeli's fictions, and with the additional advantage of being not 

inventions but truths Of the more learned portions of the 

work, its critical and antiquarian discussions, we despair of giving an 
adequate account. They embrace a great variety of subjects, and are 
highly creditable to the Author's learning and ability." — Daily News. 

"It is replete with information as varied as it is valuable, as 
-curious as it is attractive." — Britannia. 

" He appears to be thoroughly conversant with Hebrew literature, 
and his notices of Hebrew poetry, and occassional specimens of Hebrew 
music, are curious." — Examiner. 

XVI. THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES of MODERN 
JUDAISM INVESTIGATED. One Yol. 8vo. 

"Your luminous book, which suggests a most valuable alteration in 
the course hitherto pursued by students in Theology, has not yet been 

a sufficient time before the public to excite attention Your 

investigation of Modern Judaism I have read several times throughout 
with great attention. That work, with Mr. Chancellor Raikes' Preface, . 
and your short Memoir, form a compendium of much value to Theological 
Students, because it brings together one whole subject of Talmodical 
learning, which they have had to collect from different authors." — 
Extracts from a Letter of the late Bishop of Kildare to the Author. 

XVII. ISRAEL'S ORDINANCES EXAMINED 8vo. : 

"We do not know any one whose reply we should look for with 
more interest than Mr. MargOliouth's ; and on the perusal of his little 
pamphlet, we found it just as happy in its spirit as it is conclusive • 
in its arguments." — Christian Examiner. 

&c, &c, &c, &c, 



LONDON : W. MACINTOSH, 24, PATERNOSTER ROW. 



WORKS EEADY FOE PEESS, THESE MANY YEARS, BY 
THE SAME AUTHOR. 



WITH 

CRITICAL, PHILOLOGICAL, HISTORICAL, POLEMICAL, AND 
EXPOSITORY ENGLISH COMMENTS; 

THE PEINCIPAE POETIOXS Or WHICH AEE EI GESTAE. 

In Eive Quarto Volumes. 



The Author humbly trusts that, with the blessing of God, 
the work which he has been permitted to finish will not only 
prove useful to the advanced Theological Student, but also prove 
an important auxiliary to the ordinary Bible reader, who may be 
altogether unacquainted with the Sacred Tongue. 

The production of this work has been one of the principal 
objects of the Author's life; he has diligently studied the writ- 
ings of Moses and the prophets in their original Tongue, with a 
view to their elucidation. Daring his various travels in the 
East, the West, and the North, he has ever borne in mind his 
great enterprise, viz., the illustration of the " Scriptures of Truth." 

A great number of new references have been added in the 
margin of this work, and the inapplicable ones discarded. A 
considerable number of new readings have been discovered, which 
make many passages hitherto obscure, clear and intelligible. 

The Author has already spent upwards of Six Thousand 
Pounds sterling, on the preparation of this work. The enterprise 
proved the cause of protracted illness, misfortunes, and disappoint- 
ments to him, all of which conspired in putting the publication 
of it, for a time at least, in ob:-yance. 

THE HISTOEY of the JEWS, from the GEE AT DISPER- 
SION to a.d. 1860. Twelve Vols. 8vo. 

ESSAYS on the POETEY and MUSIC of the HEBREWS, 
BIBLICAL and POST-BIBLICAL. Two Vols. 



MISCELLANEOUS LECTURES. Two Vols. 8vo. 
&c, &c, &c, 



